*Kitabatake Chikafusa 北畠親房 (1293-1354): Statesman and proto-nationalist. Kitabatake Chikafusa wrote the "Jinno Shotoki", between 1339-1343. His family was of Murakami Genji stock. He disliked and opposed Ashikaga Takauji and the Bakufu - he felt that Takauji was a "greedy soldier of no great merit and not of a really good family." He supported the Southern Court in Yoshino, and over the span of his career served five emperors - Go-Fushimi, Go-Nijo, Hanazono, Go-Daigo, and Go-Murakami. He was sent by Go-Daigo to Mutsu Province as governor and worked to drum up support there for the Southern cause. He was hard-pressed by Ishidô Yoshifusa, whom Takauji had dispatched in 1335 as a counter to Chikafusa and captured Taga, which was the Loyalist's seat in Mutsu. In addition, Chikafusa was unable to convince the powerful Hitachi landholder Yûki Chikatomo to throw in with the Loyalists, and when the latter sided with the Ashikaga, Chikafusa was forced to flee to Yoshino. He died in 1354. Chikafusa was the father of Kitabatake Akiyoshi and Akiie. Akiie was killed in battle in the summer of 1338. Chikafusa was assisted in his endeavors by a younger borhter, Akinobu. (Samurai-archives.com)

*Kaibara Ekken 貝原益軒(1630-1715): Neo-Confucian philosopher, travel writer, and pioneer botanist.Trained as a physician, he left the medical profession in 1657 to study the Neo-Confucian writings of Zhu Xi. He wrote about 100 philosophical works, which stressed the hierarchical nature of society and translated Confucian doctrine into terms understood by Japanese of all social classes. His writings include The Great Learning for Women, a tract on obedience long considered the most important ethical text for Japanese women. He is regarded as the father of botany in Japan. (Encyclopædia Britannica) kikōbungaku; “Aristotle of Japan”; Record of Great Doubts; on qi;

*Itō Jinsai 伊藤仁斎(1627-1705): Japanese sinologist, Neo-Confucian philosopher, and educator of the Edo (Tokugawa) period (1603–1867), who founded the Kogigaku (“Study of Ancient Meaning”) school of thought, which subsequently became part of the larger Kogaku (“Ancient Learning”) school. Like his fellow Kogaku scholars, Yamaga Sokō and Ogyū Sorai, Itō came to oppose the official neo-Confucianism of Tokugawa Japan—derived essentially from the writings of the Chinese thinker Zhu Xi—instead advocating a return to classical Confucian teaching. Through his hundreds of students, he exerted a powerful influence that tended to counteract the monolithic thought patterns imposed on the country by the Tokugawa rulers.The son of a Kyōto lumberman, Jinsai turned his hereditary business over to his younger brother in order to devote himself to teaching and scholarship. He became known for his gentle manner and his dedication to humanistic ideals. Refusing all offers of employment from the powerful feudal rulers, he and his son Itō Tōgai (1670–1736) founded the Kogidō (“Hall of Ancient Meaning”) school in Kyōto. It was run by his descendants until 1904, when it was absorbed into the public school system The outline of Jinsai’s thought, which is one of the most remarkable of the Tokugawa era for its level of moral elevation, can be found in a small work called Gōmōjigi (1683), a commentary on the writings of the Chinese philosophers Confucius and Mencius. Jinsai was concerned with what he saw as the underlying truths of Confucian thought. He tried to develop a rational, as against an authoritarian, basis for human morality and the pursuit of happiness. (Encyclopædia Britannica) along with Sorai formed major Neo-Confucian school; rejected Neo-Confucian Zhu Xi (1130-1200)—go to source! Ko(gi)gaku school.

*Yamaga Sokō 山鹿素行 (1622-1685): Military strategist and Confucian philosopher who set forth the first systematic exposition of the missions and obligations of the samurai (warrior) class and who made major contributions to Japanese military science. Yamaga’s thought became the central core of what later came to be known as Bushido (Code of Warriors), which was the guiding ethos of Japan’s military throughout the Tokugawa period (1603–1867) and down to the end of World War II. A rōnin, or masterless samurai, Yamaga early showed great promise, and he journeyed to Edo (now Tokyo), the capital, where he soon became the favourite student of the Neo-Confucian scholar Hayashi Razan. Yamaga soon moved beyond his teacher, however, studying Buddhism, Shintō, and military science as well as Confucianism. Within a short time he became one of the most popular teachers of his time, attracting thousands of disciples. As a result of his fame, in 1652 he was appointed military instructor to the lord of the great han (fief) of Akō. Yamaga made important innovations in the study of strategy and tactics, weapons, and military intelligence. His work as a military teacher became one of his most important legacies; 19th-century students of Yamaga, though fiercely nationalistic and antiforeign, were among the first to advocate learning more about Western nations so that Japan would be better able to oppose them. Meanwhile, Yamaga began his attempts to develop a suitable ethic for the samurai class and turned to the Chinese “Ancient Learning” school of Confucianism, which advocated a return to the original 7th/6th-century-bc teachings of Confucius. Yamaga felt that those teachings were more appropriate to the samurai class than the watered-down Neo-Confucianist philosophy of Tokugawa Japan. Accordingly, Yamaga equated the samurai with the Confucian “superior man” and taught that his essential function was not only to keep himself fit for possible military service, but to justify the stipend his lord provided him with by becoming an exemplar of virtue for the lower classes. Without disregarding the basic Confucian virtue, benevolence, Yamaga emphasized the second virtue, righteousness, which he interpreted as obligation or duty. Yamaga’s critique of Neo-Confucianism first appeared in 1665 in his Yamaga gorui (“Yamaga’s Sayings”), the summary of which was also published in three volumes under the title Seiyōyōroku (“Summary of Holy Teachings”). His views were seen as a potential challenge to Tokugawa authority, and he was banished from the capital in the custody of the Lord of Akō and exiled to one of the remote corners of Japan. Yamaga became the teacher and chief inspiration for the future leader of the “47 rōnin.” Following Yamaga’s code, that group of samurai in 1702 defied shogunate law and risked their own lives to avenge the death of their lord. That incident still is one of the most famous in Japanese history and brought increased (if posthumous) fame to Yamaga and his ideas. Another of his ideas was that Japanese civilization was superior even to that of China. In his Chūchō jijitsu (“The True Facts Concerning the Middle Kingdom”), Yamaga maintained that since its founding Japan had remained loyal to its divine Imperial line, whereas China’s dynasties had come and gone. Furthermore, he argued, Confucian philosophy had been corrupted by metaphysical speculation, but Japan had remained true to the Confucian conception of duty. In the 19th century these thoughts helped inspire the militant Japanese nationalists, who in 1868 overthrew the Tokugawa shogunate and restored direct Imperial rule to Japan. (Encyclopædia Britannica)

*Ogyū Sorai 荻生徂徠 (1666-1728): One of the foremost Japanese scholars of Chinese culture and a leading Neo-Confucianist. Ogyū stressed the pragmatic application of Confucianism to promote social and political reforms by means of uniform, rational laws. He is also noted for his appreciative commentary on the revered shogunate ruler and administrative reformer Tokugawa Ieyasu (1543–1616). As a scholar of the Kogaku (“Ancient Learning”) school, Sorai rejected the commentarial tradition that sought to explicate the ancient texts and took the retrieval of the ancient artifact as an act of deserved reverence. He promoted the idea that the Confucian way (dao) is a human construct, the product of wisdom and culture. (Encyclopædia Britannica) neo-confucian totalitarian; Bendō and Benmei (1740 woodblock edition);

*Ihara Saikaku 井原西鶴 (1642-1693): Japanese writer. Saikaku began his literary career as a haikai [comic linked verse] poet, astonishing contemporaries with his skill at composing sequences of thousands of stanzas in a single sitting. Later he turned to writing ukiyozoshi, a popular prose form which in his hands was elevated to high art through the use of literary allusion, techniques borrowed from poetry, an irreverent style and keen sense of the ironic. Saikaku's highly entertaining stories were populated by merchants, rogues, misers, warriors, and amorous women such as the heroine of Koshoku ichidai onna [life of an amorous woman] who was constantly tripped up by her own lustful nature. (Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia). mixture of realism and ornate style. (Click here for Aozora Bunko texts.)

*Keichū 契沖 (1640-1701): One of the three great philosophers of kokugaku. A Buddhist monk of the Shingon Sect and one of the founders of early modern "nativism" (kokugaku). Kei opened a new stage in the study of waka poetry and classical texts through bibliographic research and the espousal of non-doctrinaire interpretations, and exerted significant impact on Motoori Norinaga. (Kokugakuin University).

*Ueda Akinari 上田秋成 (1734-1809): Preeminent writer and poet of late 18th-century Japan, best known for his tales of the supernatural. Ueda was adopted into the family of an oil and paper merchant and brought up with great kindness. A childhood attack of smallpox left him with some paralysis in his hands, and it may have caused his blindness late in life. Ueda became interested in classical Japanese and Chinese literature around the age of 25. He had started to write ukiyo-zōshi, “tales of the floating world,” the popular fiction of the day, when in 1771 the business he had managed since his stepfather’s death (1761) burned down. He took that as his opportunity to devote his full time to writing. In 1776, after eight years of work, he produced Ugetsu monogatari (Tales of Moonlight and Rain). These ghost tales showed a concern for literary style not present in most popular fiction of the time, in which the text was usually simply an accompaniment for the illustrations that formed the main part of the books. A student of history and philology, Ueda called for a revival of classical literature and language reform. His late years were spent in poverty-stricken wandering. His Harusame monogatari (1808; Tales of the Spring Rain) is another fine story collection. Ugetsu monogatari was the basis for the film Ugetsu (1953), directed by Mizoguchi Kenji. (Encyclopædia Britannica) (Click here for Aozora Bunko texts.)

*Ishida Baigan 石田梅岩 (1685-1744): Japanese scholar who originated the moral-education movement called Shingaku (“Heart Learning”), which sought to popularize ethics among the common people. The son of a farmer, Ishida began studying ethical doctrines in Kyōto as a young man while apprenticed to a merchant house. In 1729 he launched the Shingaku movement with lectures in his home. Confucianism supplied the fundamental ethics, but Ishida also incorporated Daoist, Buddhist, and Shintō elements. Explaining moral education in simple terms, Ishida used many parables in speaking directly to the people. He toured the country lecturing and in 1739 published Tohi mondō (“Question and Answer Between City and Countryside”). Some 400 disciples carried on the movement after Ishida’s death, and Shingaku grew, partly with government encouragement, until it had 81 schools all over Japan. As the teaching became more dogmatic and stereotyped, however, it declined in popularity, and by the end of the Tokugawa period in 1867 the movement was in a final decline. Ishida’s works include Seika ron (1774), an essay on family government espousing the Confucian view that a man who cannot govern his family cannot govern a nation. His disciples published Ishida sensei goroku (“The Sayings of Professor Ishida”) in 1806. (Encyclopædia Britannica) traces of modernity in works (along w/ Norinaga, Chikamatsu, and Saikaku)

*Dazai Shundai 太宰春台 (1680-1747): Disciple of Sorai.

*Jippensha Ikku 十返舎一九 (1765-1831): Comic writer. Ikku wrote a total of fifty-four works, the most famous of which is his Tōkaidōchū hizakurige (1802-1822). In his youth Ikku served in the household of the feudal Lord Odagiri. Sometime in his middle twenties he resigned and set out on his wanderings. At one time he lived in the house of a story chanter. He married into the family of a lumber merchant, but the marriage soon ended in divorce. His first literary work, a puppet play he coauthored under the pseudonym Chikamatsu Yoshichi, was published in 1789 when he was twenty-four.

*Takizawa Bakin 滝沢馬琴 (1767-1848): Late Edo gesaku writer. The dominant Japanese writer of the early 19th century, admired for his lengthy, serious historical novels that are highly moral in tone. Bakin was the third son of a low-ranking samurai family. His father and mother died while he was still young, and, because of the famine and plague that struck Edo after 1780, he alone lived to continue his family name. After much drifting, he relinquished samurai status, married a merchant’s widow, and devoted the next 50 years to writing. With his more than 30 long novels—known as yomihon, “reading books”—Bakin created the historical romance in Japan. Court romances, military chronicles, nō plays, popular dramas, legends, and Chinese vernacular fiction all furnished him material. He freed the novel in Edo from subservience to actor, illustrator, and raconteur. Loyalty, filial piety, and the restoration of once-great families were his main themes. His special attention to Chinese civilization, Buddhist philosophy, and national history was tempered by a concern for language and style, compassion for his fellow man, and a belief in human dignity. Still, the samurai tradition and his own innate stubbornness led him to support the established order and gave a strong note of didacticism to his writing. Bakin’s finest work is Nansō Satomi hakkenden (1814–42; “Satomi and the Eight Dogs”), on the theme of restoring a family’s fortunes; it is acclaimed as a classic of Japanese literature. (Encyclopædia Britannica)

*Yamazaki Ansai 山崎闇斎 (1619-1682): Propagator in Japan of the philosophy of the Chinese neo-Confucian philosopher Chu Hsi (1130–1200). Ansai reduced neo-Confucianism to a simple moral code, which he then blended with the native Shintō religious doctrines. This amalgamation was known as Suika Shintō. A Buddhist monk early in life, Ansai began to study Confucianism and gradually turned against Buddhism. By the time he was 29, he had become a Confucian teacher, gathering thousands of students, among whom were some of the greatest scholars of the day. From the complex philosophic system of Chu Hsi, Ansai extracted the simple formula “Devotion within, righteousness without.” By the former he meant the neo-Confucian emphasis on sincerity and seriousness. But in Ansai’s hands, these concepts took on religious connotations. Indeed, as Ansai grew older, he began to combine the ethical doctrines of Confucianism with the religious values of Shintō. He equated the Chinese speculations on the universe with Shintō creation legends and identified the various elements of the neo-Confucian metaphysical principles with the Shintō gods. The Supreme Ultimate (T’ai Chi) of the neo-Confucianists (i.e., the normative principle underlying the various objects and affairs of the world) became identified in Ansai’s system with the first two divinities mentioned in the Shintō religious chronicles. His amalgamation of Confucian morality with the Shintō tradition of the divine origin of the imperial line was one of the philosophical roots of the later extreme Japanese nationalism and emperor worship. Ansai was himself intensely nationalistic: he instructed his disciples that if Confucius and his great disciple Mencius were to come to Japan at the head of an invading army, the students would be obliged to don their armour and attempt to capture both sages. (Encyclopædia Britannica) Ransai’s tutor; Yamato shōgaku; Chu Hsi influence

*Rai Sanyō 頼山陽 (1780-1832): Literati painter, calligrapher, kanbun poet, Confucian intellectual and historian. He is best remembered as the author of the Nihon gaishi (1844). His father was the official Confucian advisor for the Hiroshima domain. After relinquishing his ties to his father, he set up his own school in Kyoto, where he was surrounded by leading intellectuals of the day. He advocated an early form of emperor-centered nationalism.

*Ōta Nanpo (Shoku Sanjin) 大田南畝 (蜀山人) (1749-1823): Also known as Shokusanjin, Nanpo was a mid-to-late Edo era lower-rank warrior, who was also a learned polymath and scholar, as well as a comic tanka artist and fiction writer. This Edo cultural circle centered around Nanpo gave rise to a phenomenon of cultural exchange that transcended one's status as warrior or merchant, promoting a flourishing painting and arts scene. (Tokyoartbeat.com)

*Shikitei Sanba 式亭三馬 (1776-1822): Writer of kokkeibon and gesaku, who along w/ Jippensha Ikku was the most prominent comic writer of the day. His major works include Ukiyoburo (1809-13) and Ukiyodoko.

*Ryūtei Tanehiko 柳亭種彦 (1783-1842): Samurai and writer of kyōka, senryū, yomihon, and gōkan, perhaps most known for his Nise Murasaki Inaka Genji (1829-42). Ryūtei's works were banned during Tenpō reforms, and he died shortly thereafter.

*Hayashi Razan 林羅山 (1583-1657): Japanese scholar who, with his son and grandson, established the thought of the great Chinese Neo-Confucian philosopher Chu Hsi as the official doctrine of the Tokugawa shogunate (the hereditary military dictatorship through which the Tokugawa family ruled Japan from 1603 to 1867). Hayashi also reinterpreted Shintō, the Japanese national religion, from the point of view of Chu Hsi’s philosophy, laying the foundation for the Confucianized Shintō that developed in later centuries. Hayashi began as a student of Buddhism but became a devoted adherent of Neo-Confucianism and a bitter opponent of Buddhism. In 1604 he became a pupil of the Confucian scholar Fujiwara Seika and on the recommendation of his master was employed by the shogunate, beginning in 1607. He served the first four Tokugawa shoguns, tutoring them in Neo-Confucianism and history. At the same time, he was engaged in scholarly activities and in the drafting of diplomatic documents. The first Tokugawa shogun, Ieyasu, may simply have wanted to make use of Hayashi’s vast knowledge for the purpose of practical politics and conduct of international affairs. But Hayashi’s philosophy, with its emphasis on loyalty, on a hierarchical social and political order, and on a static conservative point of view, proved to be a powerful support for the newly established government, giving the Tokugawa the ideology needed to rule the restless feudal lords under their control. In 1630 the third shogun gave Hayashi an estate in the capital city of Edo (now Tokyo), where he founded his private academy. This later came under the direct control and support of the government. Gahō, Hayashi’s third son (also called Harukatsu), became his father’s successor as chief official scholar; and Dokkōsai, Hayashi’s fourth son (also called Morikatsu), was also employed by the shogunate. During their father’s lifetime they collaborated with him in compiling histories; and after his death they assembled the Hayashi Razan bunshū (“Collected Works of Hayashi Razan”) and the Razan Sensei shishū (“Master Razan’s Poems”), republished in two volumes in 1918 and 1921, respectively. His grandson (Gahō’s son Hōkō) was given the title daigaku-nokami (“head of the state university”), which was then handed down to the subsequent heads of the Hayashi family until the late 19th century. (Encyclopædia Britannica). founder of Hayashi clan of scholars. Buddhism is foreign, bad. Confucian foreign, too, so merge with Shinto. Taught cosmology of Chu Hsi; Confucian tutor to shogun;

*Andō Shōeki 安藤昌益 (1703-1762): Largely forgotten thinker and philosopher considered to be one of the forerunners of the 19th-century movement to restore power to the emperor. He was also one of the first Japanese to study European thought. Andō was a native of Akita. He practiced medicine at Hachinohe, in the present Aomori prefecture, but became prominent as a social thinker in the 1750s. Andō was critical of the feudal society of the Tokugawa shogunate. In his work Shizen shin’eidō (“The True Way of Administering [the society] According to Nature”), he called for the abolition of the warrior class and a return to agrarian egalitarian society, which was to be administered directly by the national government. (Encyclopædia Britannica)

*Hirata Atsutane 平田篤胤 (1776-1843): Popularizer of Shinto nativism and scholar of kokugaku and rangaku. One of the four great scholars of kokugaku (kokugaku yondaijin). A follower of Motoori Norinaga who put Norinaga's scholarship into actual practice and contributed to the revival of Shinto. He wrote with extensive knowledge not only about the Japanese classics but also studied and criticized Buddhism, Confucianism, and Christianity. Of all the scholars of the Fukko Shinto school, Hirata left the richest and most varied writings.(Kokugakuin Glossary of Shinto Names and Terms). protonationalist (we Japanese are the most learned!).

*Kada (no) Azumamaro 荷田春満 (1669-1736): The scholar of the Fukko Shintô school who first proposed the theory of kokugaku or National Learning. Studying the Kojiki, Nihon shoki, and other classics, he extolled the Japanese Shinto spirit of antiquity, free from Buddhist and Confucian influences. Together with Kamo no Mabuchi, Motoori Norinaga, and Hirata Atsutane, he is numbered as one of the four great scholars of kokugaku (National Learning).(Kokugakuin Glossary of Shinto Names and Terms)

*Kamo no Mabuchi 賀茂真淵 (1697-1769): One of the four great scholars of Fukko Shintô. A student of Kada no Azumamaro, he devoted his life to the study of the classics, focusing on ancient philology, especially that of the Man'yôshû. He played a vital role in the revival of Shinto. (Kokugakuin Glossary of Shinto Names and Terms).

*Motoori Norinaga 本居宣長 (1730-1801): One of the four great scholars of the movement known as Restoration Shinto (Fukko Shintô). A student of Kamo no Mabuchi, Motoori raised the study of National Learning (kokugaku) to a high level, spending much of his life in writing the Kojiki-den, a detailed examination of the Records of Ancient Matters (Kojiki). His Naobi no mi-tama is a simple exposition of his theories. (Kokugakuin Glossary of Shinto Names and Terms).

*Hirata Kanetane 平田銕胤 (1799-1880): Scholar of National Learning (kokugaku) of the late Edo and early Meiji eras. Born in 1799 in Niiya, Iyo Province (present-day Ehime Prefecture), Hirata's original lineage name was Midorigawa. In 1824 he married Hirata Atsutane's daughter Chie and subsequently became the great scholar's adopted son. From the eleventh month of 1862 he was ordered to serve in the Kyoto liaison office of the Akita Domain, where he gained the favor of Iwakura Tomomi. Upon the establishment of the new Meiji government, Hirata served as a magistrate at the Bureau of Divinities (Jingi Jimukyoku; the forerunner of the Meiji Jingishō), and the Bureau of Domestic Affairs (Naikoku Jimukyoku). Along with fellow kokugaku scholars Tamamatsu Misao and Yano Harumichi, he successfully appealed for and saw the establishment of the Kōgakusho, a new center for nativist studies centered on the teachings of the "four great kokugaku scholars," namely Kada no Azumamaro, Kamo no Mabuchi, Motoori Norinaga, and Hirata Atsutane. In the ninth month of 1868, the first year of the Meiji era, Hirata was appointed as Special Constultant at the Kōgakusho, and served in numerous other adjunct capacities, including Imperial Tutor (shikō), Special Consultant on National History, and Special Consultant for the Bureau of Preceptors (kyōdōkyoku), and was given the governmental rank of Senior Professor of the University. Hirata contributed to the establishment and administration of the Tokyo Daigakkō (which later became a university), yet discord with government authorities resulted in the closure of the school, and Hirata ultimately resigned from his governmental post on the second day of the seventh month of 1870. In 1879, however, he was appointed Senior Prefect of Instruction (daikyōsei), the highest rank in the system of Preceptors (kyōdōshoku) of the Great Promulgation Campaign (see taikyō senpu). He authored several texts, including Norito shōkun (True Teachings of the Norito), yet he is best known for publishing the writings of Hirata Atsutane and for organizing the vast number of Atsutane's posthumous disciples into a school of great influence. Hirata died October 25, 1880, at the age of eighty-two. (Kokugakuin Encyclopedia of Shinto)

*Tamamatsu Misao 玉松操 (1810-1872): Scholar of National Learning (kokugaku) from the end of the Edo into the early Meiji periods. Born in 1810 as the second son of Yamamoto Kimihiro, a State Consultant (sangi) and Chamberlain (jijū). At the age of eight, Tamamatsu entered Buddhism at the Muryōin temple of the monastery Daigoji, eventually to be appointed to the rank of Senior High Abbot (daisōzu). At the age of thirty, however, he left the monastery and returned to secular life, adopting the name Yamamoto Kiken, then Tamamatsu Misao. After studying kokugaku under Ōkuni Takamasa (1791-1871), Tamamatsu opened private schools where he lectured on the subject, first in Izumi Province (the south-western part of present-day Osaka Prefecture) during the 1850s, and then in Sakamoto in Ōmi Province (present-day Shiga Prefecture) during the first half of the 1860s. In 1867, his disciple Mikami Hyōbu introduced him to Iwakuwa Tomomi (1825-83) who was then under house arrest, and Tamamatsu participated in the loyalist plan of restoring the imperial government (ōsei fukko). The expression Jinmu sōgyō ("the pioneering work of the first emperor Jinmu") is thought to have been coined by Tamamatsu. He is also credited with drafting the Rescript on Imperial Restoration (ōsei fukko no shōchoku). Tamamatsu was appointed Associate Professor of the University (daigaku chūhakase) and Tutor to the Emperor in 1870, but together with Yano Harumichi (1823-87) he criticized the government's education policies and resigned from the post in the first month of 1871. On the fifteenth day of the second month of 1872, Tamamatsu died due to illness at the age of sixty-three. He was posthumously awarded the Junior Third rank at court in 1894. (Kokugakuin Encyclopedia of Shinto)

*Hiraga Gennai 平賀源内 (1728-1780): Author, painter, naturalist, satirist, egoist, inventor, pharmacologist, and Rangaku scholar. He was born into a low-ranking samurai family in the Takamatsu Domain (now in Kagawa Prefect.) on Shikoku. His interest in the natural sciences developed while working in the medicinal herb garden of his lord, Matsudaira Yoritaka. In 1752-4 he was sent to study in Nagasaki, where he encountered Western and Chinese scientific ideas and methods. After studying in Osaka with the herbalist Toda Kyokuzan (1696-1769), Gennai travelled c. 1757 to Edo, where he became a student of the government physician and naturalist Tamura Genyu (1718-76). Through Tamura he met the physician and scholar of Western learning Sugita Genpaku (1733-1817) and others interested in empirical science. This group conducted symposia, investigating the properties of a wide range of materials. Drawing on these studies, Gennai wrote his most important book, Butsurui hinshitsu ('Classification of various materials'; 1763), which contained descriptions of some 360 specimens. It was illustrated mainly by the Nagasaki school painter SO SHISEKI, whose work displays the close observation of nature consistent with Gennai's methodology. (Answers.com)

*Sō Shiseki 宋紫石 (1715-1786): Painter of of Nagasaki and Nanpin schools. His family lived near Soonji in the Asakusa district of Edo. He probably received some early basic training in painting in the capital, but his desire to further his painting career led him to travel to Nagasaki in search of recently imported Chinese paintings and newly arrived Chinese painters. He seems to have passed several years in studying at Nagasaki during the 1750s. (Answers.com)

*Matsuo Bashō 松尾芭蕉 (1644-1694):

*Yosa Buson 与謝蕪村 (1716-1784):

*Shiba Kōkan 司馬江漢 (1747-1818): Japanese artist and scholar of the Tokugawa period who introduced many aspects of Western culture to Japan. He was a pioneer in Western-style oil painting and was the first Japanese to produce a copperplate etching. Kōkan studied painting first with a teacher of the Kanō school, in which Chinese themes and techniques were stressed, and then took up woodblock printing with Suzuki Harunobu. Kōkan became adept at imitating Harunobu’s style, but he soon moved away from what he considered the spiritless ukiyo-e tradition and came under the influence of Western realistic painting, with its techniques of shading and perspective. He learned copperplate engraving and oil painting by studying Dutch books, the only foreign books available at the time. After much trial and error, he succeeded in making his first copperplate prints; the model product of this effort was an etching entitled “Mimeguri Keizu” (1783; “The View from Mimeguri”). In 1788 he left Edo and traveled westward to Nagasaki, which was the only Japanese port open to external trade. While there he visited the Dutch trading enclave on the island of Dejima, trying to absorb as much Western knowledge as he could. His account of the journey appeared in Saiyū ryodan (1794; “Account of a Western Visit”). He later published a set of volumes on Dutch astronomy and also endeavoured, through etchings, to illustrate Nicolaus Copernicus’ heliocentric theory of the solar system. Kōkan is also known for his oil paintings, which display his acquired Western techniques. In 1799 he wrote Seiyō-gadan (“Dissertation on Western Painting”), in which he explained fundamental principles of the realism of Western painting. In his later years, he turned to studying the Chinese sages, notably Lao-tzu and Confucius. He also became a disciple of Zen Buddhism, secluding himself at the Engaku Temple in Kamakura and spending much time in meditation. (Encyclopædia Britannica)

*Sakuma Shōzan 佐久間 象山 (1811-1864): Scholar. Born in Nagano, the son of the secretary of the Matsushiro Clan. His real name was Kunitada, later changed to Hiraku. He also used Shozan as a pseudonym. In 1833, he went up to Edo and entered the private school managed by Issai Sato, but three years later he returned to Matsushiro. In 1839, he opened his own private school in Edo. He was ordered to study foreign affairs by his clan lord, Yukitsura Sanada, who became roju (senior councillor of the Shogunate government). He wrote and submitted the "Kaibo Hassaku" (Eight measures for naval defense) in 1842. In 1854, implicated in the incident of Shoin Yoshida, he was confined in Matsushiro but released in 1862. In 1864, by command of the government he went to Kyoto to insist on the opening of the country, but was assassinated by sonno joi group (supporters of the doctrine of revering the Emperor and expelling the barbarians). (National Diet Library)

*Yoshida Shōin 吉田松陰 (1830-1859): Educator. Born in Yamaguchi as a son of Yurinosuke Sugi, a samurai of the Hagi Clan, but adopted by the Yoshida family serving as the master of the Yamaga-style art of war. After studying at the caln school Meirinkan, he traveled around the country to study. He then learned gunnery and Western studies through the Dutch language under Shozan Sakuma. In 1854 he attempted to stow away on the American warship Pohatan anchored at Shimoda Port but was caught and thrown into jail, then later transferred to Noyamagoku jail in Hagi. The following year he was released and confined in the home of his both parents, the Sugi family. During that period he started a private school, Shoka Sonjuku, where he taught about 80 students, including Shinsaku Takasugi, Genzui Kusaka, Hirobumi Ito, and Aritomo Yamagata. Thus, he fostered outstanding human resources who played active roles from the final days of the Tokugawa regime through the early Meiji Era. In 1859, he was executed in the Ansei Purge in Edo. (National Diet Library)

*Aizawa Seishisai (Yatsuhi) 会沢正志斎 (1782-1863): nationalist thinker. Japanese nationalist thinker whose writings helped provoke the movement that in 1868 overthrew the Tokugawa shogunate and restored power to the emperor. Aizawa’s fief of Mito, one of the branches of the great Tokugawa family, was a centre of Confucian learning and loyalty. Thus, the threat to these traditional beliefs posed by growing contact with the West was keenly felt in Mito. Writing in the early 19th century, when Western ships were first beginning to be seen off the Japanese coast, Aizawa argued that the new “barbarians” had to be dealt with decisively, but that in order to do so Japan had to adopt certain Western military techniques and develop her armaments and defenses. Even so, contact with foreigners should be limited, according to Aizawa, for to encourage trade would undermine the Japanese nation. He realized that the real threat to the country was a weak, apathetic citizenry; strength could be ensured only through promotion of nationalistic sentiment, including loyalty to the emperor as the real sovereign. According to Aizawa, Japan’s natural supremacy and its unique position at the centre of the world resulted from the fact that the Japanese ruling line was directly descended from Amaterasu (the sun goddess), and the basis of morality, which had become confused by the introduction of the false doctrines of Buddhism, was loyalty to the emperor; emperor worship thus provided the basis of later Japanese ultranationalism. Aizawa’s book Shinron (“New Proposals”), stressing the supremacy of the Japanese nation, remained influential well into the 20th century. (Encyclopædia Britannica)

*Watanabe Kazan 渡辺崋山 (1793-1841): Painter, scholar and statesman noted for his character-revealing portraits and his pioneering efforts in adapting Western perspective to Japanese art. The son of a poor retainer of a lesser lord, Watanabe studied painting to earn a living. In 1832 Watanabe, who was in the service of Lord Tawara of Mikawa, was sent to an important post at Edo (now Tokyo). He also was put in charge of coastal defense for his province. His opposition to the stringent antiforeigner policy of the ruling Tokugawa shogunate, however, brought him great suffering and a long term of house arrest. Later, when his pupils planned to hold a benefit exhibition for him in Edo, he feared it would create turmoil that might draw attention to his family and to his lord, and he chose, therefore, to commit suicide. As a painter, Watanabe was a man of great originality whose talent was sustained by sound technique based on untiring sketching. He managed to add Western perspective to traditional Oriental techniques without producing a jarring effect. His forte was portrait drawing, which he carried out with profound insight into his models’ characters and with unrelenting realism—traits that mark his portraits of the scholar Takami Senseki and the calligrapher Ichikawa Beian. His premature death retarded the integration of traditional Japanese and modern Western art. (Encyclopædia Britannica)

*Yokoi Shōnan 横井小楠 (1809-1869): Confucian scholar and nationalist political thinker. Born in Kumamoto as the son of a samurai of the Kumamoto Clan. Around 1843, he opened a private school called Shonan-do, advocating a practical-minded Neo-Confucianism "Jitsugaku". In 1858, Yoshinaga Matsudaira (Shungaku), the lord of the Fukui Clan, invited Yokoi to be his political advisor. Yokoi wrote "Kokuze Sanron" (the Three Major Discussion of State Policy). In the wake of Shungaku Matsudaira's installment as shogunal prime minister (seiji sosaishoku) in 1862, Yokoi became involved in the shogunate governmental reforms at Edo. He supported the movement for Union of Court and Shogunate (kobu gattai), which eventually failed. He was expelled from the clan and returned to Kumamoto to live under confinement at home. He kept in contact with Kaishu Katsu, Ichio Okubo, and other patriots from various regions. After the Meiji Restoration, he was installed as a political counselor (san'yo) but was assassinated by a conservative. (National Diet Library)

*Hasegawa Settan 長谷川雪旦(1778-1843): Painter who lived in the second half of the Edo period, born in Edo. His first name is Munehide, his pseudonym is Gengakusai Itiyōsai. He was commonly called Gotō� Uzaemon. His original occupation was a sculpture carpenter, and he created many works of ukiyo-e prints. the Edo Meisho Zukai is one of his masterpieces. (Allexperts.com)

*Kagawa Kageki 香川景樹 (1768-1843): Japanese poet and literary scholar of the late Tokugawa period (1603–1867) who founded the Keien school of poetry. Kageki was born into a samurai family, but by the age of 25 he left his home and studied under Kagawa Kagetomo in Kyōto. Kageki was adopted by the Kagawa family but later broke with Kagetomo. In 1796 he met Ozawa Roan, whose rejection of the traditional and formal poetic style and advocacy of simple and honest expression of feelings greatly influenced him. He began advocating the concept of shirabe (“tuning”), stating that the tone of a poem was more important than its intellectual content. In the early 19th century Kageki became the leading poet of Kyōto and established the Keien school; he increased his reputation by publishing Shingaku iken (1811), in which he criticized the poetic style of Kamo Mabuchi. Many of his poems of this period were published in the anthology Keien isshi (1828). His views and the establishment of his school won him the enmity of Mabuchi’s disciples and of other established schools. Despite their attacks, his influence survived his death, and the Keien school remained a major force in Japanese poetry until the late 19th century. (Encyclopædia Britannica)

*Fujita Yūkoku 藤田幽谷 (1744-1826): Founding theorist of the Mito school and father of Fujita Tōko.

*Aizawa Seishisai 会沢正志斎 (1781-1863): Late Mitogaku scholar and Japanese nationalist thinker whose writings helped provoke the movement that in 1868 overthrew the Tokugawa shogunate and restored power to the emperor. Aizawa’s fief of Mito, one of the branches of the great Tokugawa family, was a centre of Confucian learning and loyalty. Thus, the threat to these traditional beliefs posed by growing contact with the West was keenly felt in Mito. Writing in the early 19th century, when Western ships were first beginning to be seen off the Japanese coast, Aizawa argued that the new “barbarians” had to be dealt with decisively, but that in order to do so Japan had to adopt certain Western military techniques and develop her armaments and defenses. Even so, contact with foreigners should be limited, according to Aizawa, for to encourage trade would undermine the Japanese nation. He realized that the real threat to the country was a weak, apathetic citizenry; strength could be ensured only through promotion of nationalistic sentiment, including loyalty to the emperor as the real sovereign. According to Aizawa, Japan’s natural supremacy and its unique position at the centre of the world resulted from the fact that the Japanese ruling line was directly descended from Amaterasu (the sun goddess), and the basis of morality, which had become confused by the introduction of the false doctrines of Buddhism, was loyalty to the emperor; emperor worship thus provided the basis of later Japanese ultranationalism. Aizawa’s book Shinron (“New Proposals”), stressing the supremacy of the Japanese nation, remained influential well into the 20th century. (Encyclopædia Britannica)

*Fujita Tōko 藤田東湖 (1806-1855): Late Mitogaku (imperial nationalist restoration ideology) scholar. One of the Japanese scholars who inspired the movement that in 1868 overthrew the feudal Tokugawa shogunate, restored direct rule to the emperor, and attempted to strengthen Japan to meet the challenge of Western imperialist powers. Born into a high samurai family, Fujita succeeded his father in 1827 as the director of the Shōkōkan, the history-compiling institute of the great feudal fief of Mito. He helped Tokugawa Nariaki succeed as daimyo, or lord, of Mito in 1829 and, two years later, accompanied Nariaki to Edo and advised the shogunate to strengthen Japan’s defenses and to ban any intercourse or trade with foreign powers. Such views later influenced those coalescing against the shogunate under the slogan “Revere the Emperor; Expel the Barbarians”. Fujita returned to Mito in 1841 and helped strengthen the fief’s defenses, an activity that alarmed the shogunate and led to the confinement of Nariaki and Fujita in 1844. Fujita put the time to good use by writing his two-volume Kōdōkanki jutsugi (1849), setting forth his views of Japan’s unique destiny. Fujita returned to active politics in 1853, when the shogunate invited Nariaki to advise on defense and diplomatic problems posed by the arrival of a U.S. naval squadron under Commodore Matthew C. Perry, who demanded that Japan end its two centuries of isolation and open trade with the rest of the world. Fujita’s exposure to the negotiations with the Americans brought him to the view that concluding treaties with the Western powers would be inevitable. Shortly afterward, he was killed when his house collapsed during an earthquake. (Encyclopædia Britannica)

Meiji (1868-1912) and Taishō (1912-1925) Eras

*Itō Hirobumi 伊藤博文 (1841-1909): Statesman, education advocate, and prime minister. Born in Yamaguchi. His father, Juzo Hayashi, was adopted by a lower class samurai of the Hagi Clan, after which he assumed the family name Ito. He took Yoshida Shoin as his teacher and studied at his Shoka Sonjuku. Later, he offered his services to the sonno joi undo (movement to revere the emperor and expel the barbarians) together with Kido Takayoshi, Takasugi Shinsaku, etc. In 1871, he joined the Iwakura mission as vice-envoy extraordinary, during which he won the confidence of Okubo Toshimichi. After Okubo died, he took over the post of home minister and secured the central position in the government. In 1882, he went over to Europe to study the constitutions of those countries. In 1885, he established the cabinet system of government and became the first prime minister of Japan. In addition, he led the enactment of the Constitution of the Empire of Japan. He successively held important posts as chairman of the Privy Council, president of the House of Peers, prime minister (four times) and the first resident general of Korea. In 1909, he was assassinated by a Korean independence movement activist, An Chung-gun, at Harbin Station. (National Diet Library)

*Iwakura Tomomi 岩倉具視 (1825-1883): Court nobel, former daimyō, statesman. Powerful aristocrat and government leader during Restoration and early Meiji; advocated more rigorous education of elite aristocracy; Noble and statesman, born in Kyoto as a son of Gonnochunagon Yasuchika Horikawa. He was adopted by Tomoyoshi Iwakura as his heir. In 1854, he became jiju (chamberlain) to the Emperor Komei. In 1858, when Imperial sanction for the United States-Japan Treaty of Amity and Commerce was petitioned, he tried to prevent it. Supporting kobu gattai (the reconciliation between the Imperial Court and the Shogunate government), he promoted the marriage of Princess Kazunomiya to the Shogun. Reproached by the sonno joi group (supporters of the doctrine of revering the emperor and expelling the barbarians) as one of the yonken (Four Wilies), he was confined until 1867. Then he switched to opposing the Shogunate government and conducted the coup d'etat of osei fukko (restoration of Imperial rule) along with Okubo Toshimichi and others. In the new government he served as san'yo (senior counselor), gijo, dainagon, udaijin (minister of the right), etc. In 1871, accompanied by a mission, he made an inspection tour of Western countries as ambassador extraordinary and plenipotentiary. He established the policy to enact the Imperial Constitution, and made efforts for the protection of the Imperial family and the nobility. (National Diet Library)

*Ōkubo Toshimichi 大久保利通 (1830-1878): Statesman and leader of the Meiji Restoration. Born in Kagoshima. He promoted kobu gattai undo (the movement for union of Imperial Court and Shogunate) under Shimazu Hisamitsu. Later he changed his position to the anti-Shogunate government, and while successfully establishing the Satsuma-Choshu Alliance he conducted the coup d'etat of osei fukko (restoration of Imperial rule) along with Iwakura Tomomi and others. Carrying out reforms such as hanseki hokan (the return of the lands and people to the Emperor) and haihan chiken (the abolition of clans and establishment of prefectures), he consolidated the foundation of the new government. After serving as sangi (councillor) and finance minister, he joined the Iwakura mission as vice-envoy extraordinary and plenipotentiary in 1871. After returning home, he insisted on the improvement of domestic politics and expelled the sangi (councillors) whose slogan was "Conquering Korea," and himself became sangi and home minister, thereby gaining government power and carrying out important policies such as land tax reforms and encouragement of new industry. He suppressed regional rebellions by the former samurai class that ended with the Satsuma Rebellion, but was assassinated by a former samurai in 1878. (National Diet Library)

*Saigō Takamori 西郷隆盛 (1828-1877): Statesman and Meiji Restoration leader. Born in Kagoshima. Holding high office under the Kagoshima Clan lord Nariakira Shimazu, he tried to commit suicide by drowning on the occasion of the Ansei Purge and the death of Nariakira. Later he was active under Shimazu Hisamitsu, who aimed at kobu gattai (the reconciliation between the Imperial Court and the Shogunate government), but because of a conflict with Hisamitsu he was exiled. When recalled, he took an active part as staff officer on the side of the Shogunate government on its first Choshu expedition. Later he changed allegiance to oppose the Shogunate government, and concluded the Satsuma-Choshu Alliance with Kido Takayoshi through the intermediation of Sakamoto Ryoma. Jointly with Katsu Kaishu, he achieved the bloodless surrender of Edo Castle and successfully conducted the coup d'etat of osei fukko (restoration of Imperial rule). As a sangi (councillor) in the new government, he pushed through reforms. In 1873, he lost in the Seikanron (conquer Korea debate) and resigned from the government. In 1877, urged by students of his private school in his home town, he raised an army causing the Satsuma Rebellion, but he was defeated by the government army and committed suicide. (National Diet Library) (Click here for Aozora Bunko texts.)

*Sakamoto Ryōma 坂本竜馬 (1835-1867): Statesman. Born in Kochi, the son of a country samurai of the Kochi Clan, in 1853 he became a disciple of Sadakichi Chiba, a master swordsman of the Hokushin-Itto-ryu (martial art style of fencing). He is famous as an excellent swordsman. In 1861 he joined the Tosa Kinno formed by Zuizan Takechi. In 1862, he quit the clan and moved up to Edo and became a disciple of Katsu Kaishu and worked hard to construct the Kobe Naval Operations Training School. In 1865, he established a young men's group in Kameyama, Nagasaki (afterwards, Kaientai). He devoted himself to the conclusion of the Satsuma-Choshu Alliance and was present at the scene of the compact between Saigo Takamori and Kido Takayoshi in 1866. While moving up to Edo from Nagasaki by sea with Goto Shojiro in 1867, he put together his own political blueprint, "Senchu Hassaku" (Eight plans written on board ship). In the same year he was assassinated in Kyoto together with Nakaoka Shintaro. (National Diet Library) (Click here for Aozora Bunko texts.)

*Takasugi Shinsaku 高杉晋作 (1839-1867): A core figure in the anti-Shogunate. Born in Yamaguchi as the son of a samurai of the Hagi Clan. He studied at the clan school Meirinkan and Shoka Sonjuku (a private school opened by Shoin Yoshida). In 1858, he entered the Shoheiko (a school under direct control of the Shogunate at Edo), but in 1859 returned home by the clan's command. In 1863, when the Hagi Clan attacked a foreign ship, he was appointed to form the Kiheitai (irregular militia), an imperial loyalist militia, and attacked the foreigners. In 1864, he took an active part as official envoy for the peace negotiations with the Western four allied powers fleet. After the first Choshu expedition, he converted the clan's opinion to the anti-Shogunate, and in 1866 the clan concluded the Satsuma-Choshu Alliance with the Satsuma clan. In the same year, he commanded the clan navy and fought against the Shogunate forces in the second Choshu expedition and defeated them at Oshima and Kokura. But he died of tuberculosis at Bakan in the following year. (National Diet Library)

*Kido Takayoshi 木戸孝充 (1833-1877): Statesman. Born in Yamaguchi, the son of a doctor serving in the Hagi Clan. He became a pupil of Yoshida Shoin. Later he learned swordsmanship and western military science in Edo. Opposed to the kobu gattai group (supporters of the union of the Imperial Court and the Shogunate), he worked tirelessly for the sonno joi undo (movement to revere the emperor and expel the barbarians). He held an important position in the clan and led the argument for the overthrow of the shogunate. In 1866, he concluded the Satsuma-Choshu Alliance with the Kagoshima Clan. After the coup d'etat of osei fukko (restoration of Imperial rule), he engaged in the drafting of the Charter Oath. Appointed san'yo (senior councillor), he poured his efforts into hanseki hokan (the return of the lands and people to the Emperor). He became sangi (councillor) in 1870. In 1871, he took part in the Iwakura mission as deputy envoy. Later, he held important posts including education minister, home affairs minister, chairman of the local official council, cabinet councillor, etc., while advocating the gradual establishment of constitutional government. Advocated mass education. (National Diet Library)

*Nishimura Shigeki 西村茂樹 (1828-1902): Educator, thinker, and one of the founding members of Meirokusha. Born in Tokyo as the son of a samurai of the Sakura Clan. He studied Confucianism and gunnery from childhood, and added Dutch and English studies later. In 1850, he took over as head of the Family. In 1873, he started serving at the Education Ministry, where he planned new editions of school textbooks and dictionaries as the chief of the editorial section. He played a central role in the foundation of the Meirokusha (intellectual society). In 1876, in an appeal for the restoration of national morality against the tide of Europeanization in government offices, he established the Tokyo Shushin Gakusha (The Tokyo Morality School), which was later to be renamed as the Nihon kodokai (Society for Expanding the Japanese Way). He became the Chief Secretary of the Education Ministry in 1877 and a court councilor in 1896. He made efforts to spread Confucianism-centered, emperor-revering national morality as Chairman of the Nihon kodokai and published "Nihon dotoku ron" (Discourse on Japanese Morality) and other writings. In 1890, he was elected as a member of the House of Peers. (National Diet Library)

*Motoda Eifu 元田永孚 (1818-1891): Conservative Confucian scholar and government official. Confucian scholar, court official. Born in Kumamoto as the son of a samurai of the Kumamoto Clan. He became a student of Yokoi Shonan at the Jishukan clan school. In 1870, he became jidoku (lecturer) for the clan governor Morihisa Hosokawa. In the following year, he served in the Imperial Household Ministry and became jiko (lecturer) to the Emperor Meiji. He contributed to the establishment of jihoshoku, the Emperor's close aid in the court ministry in 1877. In 1879, following criticism of clan clique-based politics, he initiated a movement to promote direct administration for the Emperor but failed and the jihoshoku was abolished. He became first-grade jiko in 1881, court councillor in 1886 and served as privy councillor from 1888. He engaged in the drafting of "Kyogaku taishi," an edition of "Yogaku koyo," and others, and drafted the Imperial Rescript on Education. (National Diet Library). advisor to Emperor Meiji; critical of bunmeikaika Westernization; helped write Kyōiku chokugo (1890) with Nishimura Shigeki and assorted group of educators, politicians, others;

*Enjōji Kiyoshi 円城寺清 (1870-1908): Political leader, journalist, and writer. Born in Ojiro, Saga. In 1889, he entered the Department of Politics in Japanese at Tokyo Senmon Gakko (predecessor of the Waseda University) and graduated from there in 1892. He worked for the Yubin Hochi Shinbun, which was the newspaper for the Okuma Sect, but later he was accepted into the Party Publication Department of the Rikken Kaishinto party. When the party split, he became chief reporter for the publication of the Kensei Honto party. In 1899, he became leader writer for Manchoho and became known as an active controversialist. He wrote "Okuma-haku Sekijitsutan" (1893), "Chiso Zenpairon" (1903) and others. (National Diet Library)

*Nishi Amane 西周 (1829-1897): Scholar, philosopher, and Enlightenment thinker. Born in Shimane, the son of a physician serving in the Tsuwano Clan. After studying Confucianism at his domain school and in Osaka, he came to Edo to learn Dutch and English. In 1857, he became a kyoju tetsudai-nami (junior assistant instructor) for a professor at the shogunate Bansho Shirabesho (Institute for the Study of Barbarian Books), and then studied in Holland from 1862 to 1865. In 1868, he translated and published "International Law". In 1870, he started serving at the Ministry of War while participating in the Meirokusha (intellectual society) and publishing papers in the society's journal, "Meiroku zasshi". In 1882, he became a member of the Chamber of Elders, and in 1890, a member of the House of Peers by Imperial command. He suggested many new terminologies and introduced European philosophy and logic. (National Diet Library). Introduced Western philosophy into education curriculum; Sorai influence; inductive reasoning; Mill; replace Confucian learning! biography written by Ōgai.

*Tsuda Sen 津田仙 (1837-1908): Westernizer, progressive agriculturalist, and Christian. He helped found both Meirokusha and Aoyama Gakuin University. His daughter is Tsuda Umeko.

*Maejima Hisoka 前島密 (1835-1919): Government official, statesman, businessman, and founding member of Meirokusha. Born in Niigata as the son of the Ueno family, a rich farm family in Niigata. After learning Western studies in Edo and traveling around in Japan, he took over as head of the Maejima family, a vassal of the Shogun. After serving at the new Meiji government and returning from study in England, he assumed important posts as Head of Transport and Communications and Superintendent of Transport and Communications and worked to form Japan's modern postal service. He left government due to political change of 1881 and joined the Rikken Kaishinto (Constitutional Reform Party). He also served as Principal of the Tokyo Senmon Gakko (predecessor of the Waseda University) and President of Kansai Railway Company. In 1888, he returned to the governmental world as Vice Communications Minister and sought to establish telephone services. After retiring from the post, he became active again as a businessman. Later, he was elevated in rank to danshaku (baron) and became a member of the House of Peers. He is also famous for Kanji haishi ron (Kanji abolishment theory). (National Diet Library).

*Mitsukuri Rinshō 箕作麟祥 (1846-1897): Government official, scholar, and original member of Meirokusha. Government official, scholar of Western Studies and Doctor of Jurisprudence. Born in Tokyo, the grandson of Dutch-studies scholar Gempo Mitsukuri. He learned Chinese studies from Tenzan Fujimori and Gonsai Asaka, in addition to learning Dutch studies and English at home. In 1861, he became a kyoju tetsudai-nami (junior assistant instructor) for an eigaku (English studies) professor at Bansho Shirabesho (Institute for the Study of Barbarian Books). Later he learned French studies and accompanied Tokugawa Akitake to the Paris Exposition in 1867. After returning to Japan, Mitsukuri became an official translator for the new Meiji government and contributed to the formation of modern law systems through the translation of western law books and compilation of various legal codes, including old civil codes. During this period, he was also a member of the Tokyo Imperial Academy, a member of the Chamber of Elders, a member of the House of Peers, the president of Wafutsu Horitsu Gakko (now Hosei University), and the chief justice of the Administrative Court. He also opened a private school in the early Meiji period where he fostered pupils including Nakae Chomin and Oi Kentaro. He also participated in the Meirokusha (intellectual society). (National Diet Library)

*Fukuzawa Yukichi 福澤諭吉 (1833-1901): Scholar, educator, original Meirokusha member, and nationalist. Representative enlightenment thinker in the Meiji Era. Born in Osaka, the son of a samurai of the Nakatsu Clan, who was serving at the clan's storehouse in Osaka when Fukuzawa was born. After his father died, he returned to Nakatsu and became a disciple of Tsuneto Shiroishi, and later, he went to Osaka for Western studies through the Dutch language under Koan Ogata. During the period from 1860 until 1867, he took part in the Shogunate missions to Europe and the United States three times, and based on these experiences, he introduced Western culture through his writings, such as "Seiyo jijo" (Conditions in the West). In 1868, he established the Keio Gijuku. After the Meiji era, he did not assume any public post or receive any court rank or honors. He published many writings including "Gakumon no susume" (Encouragement of Learning) (1872) and "Bunmeiron no gairyaku" (An Outline of a Theory of Civilization) (1875). (National Diet Library) wrote autobiography; “insider” (as opposed to the outsiders, or bundan, in Etō Jun’s terms)

*Katō Hiroyuki 加藤弘之 (1836-1916): Meiji philosopher, political scientist and government official. Born in Hyogo, the son of a samurai of the Izushi Clan. Studying under Sakuma Shozan, Oki Nakamasu Oki (afterwards, Tsuboi Tameharu) and others, he learned Western studies through Dutch. He became an assistant to an instructor at Bansho shirabesho (Institute for the Study of Barbarian Books) and undertook German studies. After the Meiji Restoration, he worked for the new government in which he served as gaimu daijo (officer of the Foreign Ministry). In 1877 he became superintendent of the Departments of Law, Science, and Literature of Tokyo University, and in 1881 he became the university's president. After serving as a member of the Chamber of Elders and president of the Imperial University, he was selected as a member of the House of Peers by Imperial command in 1890. In 1900, he received the title of danshaku (baron). In addition, he became president of the Imperial Academy and privy councillor. Among his writings are "Shinsei Taii" (1870), "Kokutai Shinron" (1874) written in the early part of his life and in the later part, "Jinken Shinsetsu" (1882), which he wrote after he changed allegiance to the theory of social evolution from the theory of natural human rights. (National Diet Library) (Click here for Aozora Bunko texts.)

*Nakae Chōmin 中江兆民 (1847-1901): Statesman, journalist, political theorist and thinker. Born in Kochi, the son of a samurai of the Kochi Clan. After studying French studies in Nagasaki and Edo, he went to France to study in 1871. Returning to Japan in 1874, Nakae opened Futsugaku Juku. In 1875, he became a gon-no-sho sho-shokikan (lower-ranked secretary) of the Chamber of Elders but resigned in 1877. He helped found the Tōyō jiyū shinbun (Oriental Free Press) in 1881 and became its chief editor. He became a theoretical leader of the Freedom and People's Rights Movement, advocating French-style theory. In 1887, he was sentenced to a two-year exile from Tokyo under the Peace Preservation Law for criticizing high-handed ways of clan clique-based government. Although he was elected as one of the first members of the House of Representatives in 1890, he resigned the following year. He wrote and translated many books including "Min'yaku-yaku-ge," "Sansuijin keirin mondo" (A Discourse by Three Drunkards on Government), "Ichinen yuhan" (A Year and a Half), and a translation of Rousseau's "Social Contract." (National Diet Library). Rousseau-influenced egalitarianism, liberalism; leader of jiyūminken; Iwakura mission. Exiled for criticism of crown; Discourse by Three Drunkards on Government (1887). (Click here for Aozora Bunko texts.)

*Tokutomi Roka 徳富蘆花 (1868-1927): Novelist. Born in Kumamoto. He was christened in his boyhood and attended Doshisha University. After leaving Doshisha, he joined the Min'yusha (Society of the People's Friends) that was being managed by his older brother, Tokutomi Sohō, in 1889. His "Hototogisu" (Namiko) series, published in the "Kokumin shinbun" newspaper, became a best-selling novel in the Meiji Era along with Koyo Ozaki's "Konjiki Yasha". He solidified his position as a top novelist with subsequent works such as "Shizen to jinsei" (Nature and Man) and "Omoide no ki" (Footprints in the Snow). In 1907, he moved to Kasuya of Setagaya-Ward to start a semi-agricultural life. Although he had broken off relations with his older brother for many years, they were reconciled at Ikaho in 1927, one day before Roka died after undergoing medical treatment. (ndl.or.jp) correspondence w/ Tolstoy; Hototogisu (1898-9, kateishōsetsu about dying woman), Christian; Shinshun (1918). (Click here for Aozora Bunko texts.)

*Uchida Hyakken 内田百間 (1889-1971): Writer and academic. Born in Okayama to a family of sake brewers whose business later went bankrupt, Hyakken became a pupil of Natsume Sōseki in 1911. He graduated from Tokyo Imperial University in 1914. He became professor of German at the Imperial Japanese Army Academy in 1916, and later taught at Hosei University. He is the main subject of Kurosawa Akira's last film, Mada dayo. His novel, Disk of Sarasate (サラサーテの盤 Sarasāte no ban) is the inspiration for the film, Zigeunerweisen. He is the author of more than fifteen volumes of writings including I am a Cat: The Fake Version, and Gates Close at Dusk. In Japan he is well known as a passionate railfan and he made some works on railway travel. A great literary figure in Japan, he has but one book translated into English: Realm of the Dead, a collection of short stories whose title work is perhaps his most well known. A translated excerpt from another collection, Hyakkien Zuihitsu [Jottings from the Goblins' Garden], appeared in the JAL inflight magazine Skyward, January, 2006: "Small Round Things." (Answers.com) For more, see Rachel Dinitto's work Uchida Hyakken: A Critique of Modernity and Militarism in Prewar Japan.

*Toyama Ineko 遠山稲子 (1874-1912): Female tanka poet. Born in Saitama. In 1888, she entered at Kaisei Jogakkan (Kaisei Girls' School) located at Kojimachi Rokuban-cho. She became known for composing tanka, studying under Masakaze Takasaki. In 1894, she married Eiichi Toyama, the staff of Ōtadokoro (Imperial Poetry Bureau). In 1906, her tanka poem written on the subject of "Shinnen-ga" (New Year's river) won the New Year Imperial Poetry Contest. She edited "Takasaki Masakaze Enzetsu Hikki" (1901), and "Uta Monogatari" (1912), in which she gathered and wrote down what she heard from Takasaki Masakaze. The collection of her own poems, "Ineko Iko" (Ineko's posthumous works) (1913), is also well-known. (National Diet Library)

*Kikuchi Dairoku 菊池大麓 (1855-1917): Mathematician, educational administrator, Tokyo University president, liberal Westernizer, and minister of education. Born in Tokyo, the second son of a scholar in Western studies, Shuhei Mitsukuri (original family name being Kikuchi). He twice went to Great Britain during the period from the final days of the Tokugawa regime until early in the Meiji Era, and studied mathematics and physics at Cambridge University. In 1877, after returning home, he became a professor at Tokyo University. In 1888, he received his doctorate in science. In 1890, he was selected as a member of the House of Peers by Imperial nomination. After serving as director of the Specialized Education Department and vice minister of the Education Ministry, he became president of the Tokyo Imperial University in 1898. In 1901, he became education minister in the first Katsura cabinet, and presided over the state takeover of textbooks. In 1902, he received the title of danshaku (baron). In 1908, he became president of the Kyoto Imperial University. Later, he served as president of the Imperial Academy and privy councillor. In 1917, he became the first director-general of the Institute of Physical and Chemical Research. (National Diet Library). Translated shūji oyobi kabun.

*Kanagaki Robun 仮名垣魯文 (1829-1894): One of last writers of kokkeibon and gesaku. His major works include Aguranabe (’71, eating beef stew cross-legged) and Seiyōdōchū hizakurige (’70), as well as the biographies of Napoleon and Ulysses S. Grant. (Click here for Aozora Bunko texts.)

*Mori Ōgai 森鴎外 (1862-1922): Novelist, critic and army surgeon. Born in Shimane, the son of a doctor serving in the Tsuwano Clan. After graduating from the University of Tokyo Faculty of Medicine in 1881, he became an army surgeon. He was sent to Germany to study from 1884 to 1888. In 1907, he was promoted to surgeon general and was appointed head of the Medical Division of the Army Ministry, the highest post of army surgeons. He was transferred to the reserve in 1916, and was appointed the head of the Zushoryo and the Imperial Museum in 1917. While managing public affairs, he was active as a novelist, critic, and translator. His representative works include "Maihime" (The Dancing Girl) (1890), "Utakata no ki" (The Mirage) (1890), the translated "Sokkyo shijin" (1892-1901), "Wita sekusuarisu" (Vita Sexualis) (1909), "Gan" (Wild Goose) (1911-13, set in 1881), "Abe ichizoku" (The Abe Family) (1913), "Sansho-Dayu" (1915), "Takasebune" (The Takase Boat) (1916), and a biography, "Shibue Chusai" (1916). (National Diet Library). safuron (1915); series of shiden. (Click here for Aozora Bunko texts.)

*Natsume Sōseki 夏目漱石 (1867-1917): Novelist. Born in Tokyo as the son of a town chief. After graduating from the English Department of the Imperial University in 1893, he worked as a teacher at Matsuyama Middle School and the Fifth Higher School, and then went to London to study in 1900. Returning to Japan, he became an instructor at Tokyo University. After making his debut as a writer with "Wagahai wa neko de aru" (I Am a Cat) (1905-1906), he became a storywriter under contract with the Asahi shinbun newspaper in 1907. After publishing novels such as "Sanshiro" (1908), "Sorekara" (And Then) (1909), and "Mon" (The Gate) (1910), he suffered a severe illness. In "Kokoro" (The Heart) (1914), "Michikusa" (Grass on the Wayside) (1915), "Meian" (Light and Darkness) (1916), and other works, he focused on psychological depictions of modern intellectuals in Japan. His style of expression, which differed from that of the naturalistic writers popular at that time, was called Yoyu-ha. He has been evaluated as one of the great storywriters of modern Japan. Among his former students are Sohei Morita, Toyotaka Komiya, and many other storywriters and literary men. (National Diet Library) (Click here for Aozora Bunko texts.)

*Mizuno Rentarō (1868-1949): Hōsei University professor and author of the first modern copywright law in Japan.

*Uozumi Setsuo 魚住折蘆 (1883-1910): Critic. Hails naturalism as the anti-authoritarian literature of individuals in his 1910 essay Jikoshuchou no shisou to shite no shizenshugi.

*Ishikawa Takuboku 石川啄木 (1886-1912): Japanese poet and master of tanka, whose works enjoyed immediate popularity for their freshness and startling imagery. Although Takuboku failed to complete his education, through reading he acquired surprising familiarity with both Japanese and Western literature. He published his first collection of poetry, Akogare (“Yearning”), in 1905. In 1908 he settled in Tokyo, where, after associating with poets of the romantic Myōjō group, he gradually shifted toward naturalism and eventually turned to politically oriented writing after Taigyaku jiken of 1910 (see essay Jidai heisa no genjou). In 1910 his first important collection, Ichiaku no suna (A Handful of Sand), appeared. The 551 poems were written in the traditional tanka form but were expressed in vivid, untraditional language. The tanka acquired with Takuboku an intellectual, often cynical, content, though he is also noted for the deeply personal tone of his poetry. In Tokyo he earned his living as a proofreader and poetry editor of the Asahi newspaper, enduring financial hardship occasioned partly by his own improvidence. His life during this period is unforgettably described in his diaries, particularly Rōmaji nikki (first published in full in 1954; “Romaji Diary”). In this diary, which he wrote in Roman letters so that his wife could not read it, Takuboku recorded with overpowering honesty his complex emotional and intellectual life. He also published fiction; but, despite its flashes of brilliance, it fails to match his poetry. A collection of poems in nontraditional forms, Yobuko no fue (1912; “Whistle and Flute”), shows some influence of anarchistic and socialistic thought. He died of chronic illness complicated by malnutrition, leaving the posthumous collection Kanashiki gangu (1912; Sad Toys). (Encyclopædia Britannica) (Click here for Aozora Bunko texts.)

*Ōsugi Sakae 大杉栄 (1885-1923): Radical activist, writer, and anarchist. He published numerous anarchist periodicals, helped translate various western anarchist essays into Japanese for the first time, and created Japan's first Esperanto school in 1906. He, Noe Itou, and his nephew were murdered in what became known as the Amakasu Incident. (OsugiSakae.com) (Click here for Aozora Bunko texts.)

*Hiratsuka Raichō 平塚雷鳥 (1886-1971): Born in Tokyo, Raichō was educated at the Japan's Women's University, where she began crusading very early for women's rights. She acknowleged boldly that women were not born only to serve men. After graduating from the university, she entered the Narumi Women's English School where she founded the bluestocking magazine, Seitō. The first edition in 1911 boldly called for women's rights. One of her contributors was Akiko Yosano who added her voice and literary pieces to the magazine. Journalists in general derided the new publication and the strange "new women" who wrote for the magazine. While Raichō's house was vandalized, other women who wrote for Seitō were either fired from their jobs or vandalized as well. Some quit from fear. Raicho moved in with an art student somewhat younger than she. Attacks on her intensified and criticisms grew louder with the birth of her two children. Saddled with debts and her lover stricken with tuberculosis, she gave up the magazine but continued to lecture. After she found a factory hiring young girls and all were suffering from tuberculosis, Raichō and another pioneering woman, Fusai Ichikawa, founded the New Women's Society and lobbied the Diet for essential rights. In the twenties women could not even join political parties. When World War II was over, she felt vindicated when General MacArthur drafted a constitution that even gave women the right to vote. For the next two decades she focused her energy on world peace and even in her old age, she marched against the war in Vietnam, attracting many sympathizers. (Distinguishedwomen.com)

*Nakano Seigo 中野正剛 (1886-1943): Statesman and journalist. Born in Fukuoka. After graduating from Waseda University, he worked as a journalist for the Tokyo Asahi shinbun newspaper before becoming the Chief Editor of the Tohojironsha. In 1920, he was elected as a member of the House of Representatives for the first time and was re-elected for a consecutive eight terms after that. He was famous for his eloquence. In 1929, he was appointed Vice Communications and Political Affairs Minister in the Hamaguchi cabinet. In 1936, he organized the Tohokai, advocating the southern expansion doctrine. After the outbreak of the war between Japan and the United States, he disagreed with the views of Hideki Tojo and conceived a behind-the-scenes plan to overthrow the Tojo cabinet. The plan failed and Nakano was investigated by military police that urged him to commit suicide by disembowelment at his home. (National Diet Library)

*Yanagi Soetsu (Muneyoshi) 柳宗悦 (1889-1961): Philosopher, culturally sensitive nationalist, and Pan-Asianist. Considered the father of japanese folk art, he was the founder of the Mingeikan Museum, the driving force behind the Mingei (Folk Craft) Movement, and the first director of the Mingeikan Museum. He is also the acclaimed author of the classic book The Unknown Craftsman, which was translated by his English collaborator Bernard Leach. (www.mingeikan.or.jp). Essay on state Shinto;

*Tsubouchi Shōyō 坪内逍遥 (1859-1935): Literary man. Born in Gifu. After graduating from Tokyo University, he became instructor and later professor of the Tokyo Senmon Gakko (predecessor of Waseda University). Shōyō entered into the limelight in Japan's literary world with publication of "Shōsetsu shinzui" (The Essence of the Novel) (1885-1886). He presented a theory of Japanese modern literature and provided practical case studies in a novel titled "Tosei shosei katagi" (The Character of Today's Students) (1885-1886). The "Non-idealness Controversy" with Mori Ogai is well known. Shōyō also devoted himself to fostering actors and encouraged the Japanese Theater Modernization movements (Shingeki) with his pupil Shimamura Hōgetsu and others. Another of his achievements is as an educator of ethics. In 1928, he completed his translation of the complete works of Shakespeare. (National Diet Library) (Click here for Aozora Bunko texts.)

*Futabatei Shimei 二葉亭四迷 (1864-1909): Novelist and translator. He entered the Russian language department at the Tokyo School of Foreign Languages in 1881. The strong political cast of Russian literature appealed to him, and Futabatei became absorbed in reading the criticism of Vissarion Belinsky. In 1886, soon after reading Tsubouchi Shōyō's Shōsetsu shinzui (The Essence of the Novel), he visited Shōyō and published his own theoretical work, Shōsetsu sōron (The Theory of the Novel, 1886), in which he argued that the truth behind visible phenomena can be revealed through imitation. His famous novel Ukigumo (The Drifting Cloud, 1887-89) was built upon this theory and is often called the first modern Japanese novel on the basis of its (comparatively) colloquial style and psychological realism. Futabatei, lacking confidence in his ability to write fiction, turned instead to translation, producing such admired versions of Turgenev's stories as Aibiki (The Rendezvous, from Sportsman's Sketches; 1888). Futabatei returned to fiction with the novel Sono omokage (In His Image) in 1906, and in 1907 began serialization of the autobiographically based Heibon (Mediocrity), published incidentally the same year as Katai's Futon. Futabatei fell ill in 1908 while on assignment as a foreign correspondent in Russia with the Asahi Shinbun, and died the next year while returning to Japan. His grave is located in the Japanese graveyard in Singapore. (Mark Jewel, jlit.net) (Click here for Aozora Bunko texts.)

*Sasaki Nobutsuna 佐々木信綱 (1872-1963): Tanka poet and critic born in Mie Prefecture. Leader of the Chikuhaku-kai group, which was formed with the purpose of reforming Japanese poetry. The group published a journal of Japanese poetry called Kokoro no hana (Flowers of the Heart) beginning in 1898. Sasaki’s collections include Omoigusa (Grasses of Thought 1903), Shingetsu (New Moon, 1912), Toyohata gumo (Clouds Streaming in the Wind, 1929), and Yama to mizu to (Mountains and Water, 1951). Sasaki also published studies of the Man’yōshu and the history of Japanese verse, most notably Kagaku ronsō (Controversies over Japanese Verse, 1908), Nihon kagaku-shi (The History of Japanese Poetry, 1910) and Waka-shi no kenkyū (Studies in Japanese Poetry, 1915). (Mark Jewel, jlit.net) Studied under Takasaki Masakaze.

*Takasaki Masakaze 高崎正風 (1836-1912): Poet and government official. Born in Kagoshima, the eldest son of the Kagoshima clan samurai Atsuyasu Takasaki, who committed seppuku (ritual suicide by disembowelment) while involved in the internal strife in the clan called "Oyura Sodo." Masakaze was exiled but later pardoned. After returning to Kagoshima, he worked hard for the nation. In 1871, he served in the new government and successively held posts as court councillor (1889) and privy councillor (1895). He also served as chief of the Ōtadokoro (Imperial poem office) from 1888 until 1912, when he advised on the poems of Emperor Meiji. Masakaze's sayings and poems were compiled into "Takasaki Masakaze Enzetsu Hikki" (1901), and "Uta Monogatari" (1912) by Ineko Toyama. (National Diet Library) (Click here for Aozora Bunko texts.)

*Hattori Bushō (Seiichi) 服部撫松 (1841-1908): Literary man and journalist. Born in Fukushima, the eldest son of a Confucian scholar serving in the Nihonmatsu Clan. He studied at the clan school Keigakukan, and entered the Seido (a shrine of Confucius) in Edo. Later, he returned to his home province and became a teacher at the clan school. After the Meiji Restoration, he went to Tokyo again as koyonin (a liason officer between the clan and the government) of the clan, but when the clans were abolished he lost the job and turned to writing. He excelled at Chinese classics, and from 1868 on, he published "Tokyo Shinshi" (1876), "Azuma Shinshi" (1883), etc. In particular, "Tokyo Shin-Hanjoki", published in 1874 established his reputation, and sold so well. In 1896, he was invited to teach Chinese classics at a middle school in Miyagi Prefecture, and remained in that position for the next 12 years. All metonymy, no metaphor; “betrayal of literature.” (National Diet Library)

*Suehiro Tetchō 末広鉄腸 (1848-1896): Political novelist, editor and statesman. Born in Ehime, the son of a samurai of the Uwajima Clan. After studying at the domain school, he became a professor of the school. In 1874, he started serving at the Finance Ministry. He joined Akebono Shinbun in the following year, but was imprisoned for criticizing the Press Ordinance in 1875. He later moved to Choya Shinbun, where he was imprisoned again for an article he wrote. Suehiro participated in efforts to form the Liberal Party, but he later separated from the party because he was critical of Taisuke Itagaki's official travels. Suehiro published some political fiction as "Setchubai" (Plum Blossoms in Snow) (1886) and "Kakan'o" (1887). In 1890, he won the first general election as a member of the Liberal Party. However, he later separated from the party after losing the second general election. Although he won in the return match election. (National Diet Library). (Click here for Aozora Bunko texts.)

*Sugiura Jūgo 杉浦重剛 (1855-1924): Educator, journalist and thinker. Born in Shiga. He entered the Daigaku Nanko (predecessor of Tokyo University) as a student dispatched by the Zeze clan at first. As the educational system changed, he subsequently studied at Tokyo Kaisei School. In 1876, while studying there, he was selected to study abroad and went to Great Britain. In 1882, he became director of the Preparatory School of the University of Tokyo, and after resigning from this post in 1885 engaged in various kinds of speech-making and educational activities mainly as a civilian out of office. In 1888, he jointly the established the nationalist organization Seikyosha with Miyake Setsurei, and published the journal "Nihonjin" (Japanese) advocating nationalism. He also established the Tokyo English School and managed the private school Shokojuku, focusing on youth education. Later, after serving as director of the Toa Dobun Shoin (a college in Shanghai) and other posts, in 1914 he became a teacher the school for the Crown Prince in his Palace (Togu Gogakumonjo goyogakari) and taught him Ethics. (National Diet Library) (Click here for Aozora Bunko texts.)

*Tōkai Sanshi 東海散士 (1852-1922): Writer of political novels. kajin no kigū (85-97; first person; warns of dangers of Western imperialism); 1 of 3 great writers of day (w/ Tokutomi Sohō, Shiga Shigetaka). (Click here for Aozora Bunko texts.)

*Takayama Chogyū 高山樗牛 (1871-1902): Literary critic, aesthetician and Doctor of Literature. Born in Yamagata. A graduate of the Philosophy Department in the College of Literature of the Imperial University. Even as a student, he won a prize for his novel "Takiguchi Nyudo" at the Yomiuri Shinbun Prize-winning Novel Contest in 1894. He worked as a member of editorial office of a magazine "Teikoku Bungaku" (Imperial Literature). After graduation, he entered the Hakubunkan became the Chief Editor of the "Taiyo" magazine, where he wrote various critical essays that covered literature, philosophy, and aesthetics. He insisted on Japanese nationalism (Nihon shugi) at first, but later he was influenced by the philosophy of Nietzsche and averted his thoughts to individualism. In "Biteki Seikatsu o Ronzu" (On An Aesthetic Lifestyle) (1901), he advocated the Instinct Satisfaction theory. In his later life he committed to Nichiren. He abandoned the idea of studying in Europe due to his worsening lung tuberculosis, and instead became an instructor at Tokyo Imperial University in 1901. He passed away the following year. (National Diet Library) Anti-Ken'yūsha; champions instinctual desire (seiyoku) in his last essay Bitekiseikatsu o ronzu (1901), which calls on Japanese to "overcome the present" and its superficial culture. (Click here for Aozora Bunko texts.)

*Itagaki Taisuke 板垣退助 (1837-1919): Statesman. Born in Kochi. He served as sobayonin (councillor) to Toyoshige Yamauchi, the lord of the Kochi Clan, but as he conflicted with the clan's policy line based on kobu gattai (the reconciliation between the Imperial Court and the Shogunate government), he joined hands with the anti-Shogunate group. He played an active part in the Boshin War. After the Meiji Restoration, he became the daisanji (senior official) of the Kochi Clan and promoted the administrative reform of the clan. In 1871, he forced through haihan chiken (the abolition of clans and establishment of prefectures). As a sangi (councillor), he ran the government temporarily after the Iwakura mission was dispatched, but in 1873 he resigned from the post because of a divergence in the Seikanron (conquer Korea debate). In the following year, together with Shojiro Goto and others, who resigned with him, he submitted a memorandum calling for the establishment of a popularly elected parliament. While establishing the Aikoku Koto (Public Party of Patriots) and the Risshisha (Self Help Soceity), he led the Freedom and People's Rights Movement (Jiyū minken undō) and founded the populist Jiyūtō party in 1881 (the party dissolved in 1884). In 1881, he became prime minister based on the Liberal Party. Later he served as home minister of the second Ito cabinet and the first Okuma
cabinet. (National Diet Library).

*Fukuchi Gen'ichirō 福地源一郎 (1841-1906): Statesman, journalist, and literary man. Founded rikken teiseitō party (gradualist) in 1882. Born in Nagasaki. He undertook Dutch studies and English studies in Nagasaki and Edo. In 1859, he started serving for the Tokugawa shogunate. He traveled twice to Europe as a member of the mission sent by the Shogunate. In 1868, he launched the "Koko shinbun" newspaper and criticized the new government, for which he was placed under arrest. In 1870, he started serving for the Finance Ministry and attended to both Hirobumi Ito's visit to the United States and the Iwakura mission. From 1874 to 1888, he worked as chief editor and president of the newspaper "Tokyo Nichinichi Shinbun" and had extensive authority in the press world as a government-affiliated newspaper journalist. Later, he was active in various fields, writing political fiction and Kabuki scripts, and joining the movement for modern theater. In 1904, he was elected as a member of the House of Representatives. (National Diet Library)

*Katō Gen'ichi ？(？): Prominent Shinto scholar of first half of the twentieth century.

*Ōkuma Shigenobu 大隈重信 (1838-1922): Politician, imperial nationalist, and educator. Statesman. Born in Saga, the son of a samurai of the Saga Clan. He was an active royalist supporting the sonno joi (revere the emperor and expel the barbarians) doctrine. After the Meiji Restoration, after serving as foreign case judge, etc., he became a sangi (councillor) in 1870. In 1873, he became chief secretary of the Finance Ministry and then finance minister. After the Seikanron (conquer Korea debate), he assisted Toshimichi Okubo in financial management. He was expelled from the government in the so-called Political Crisis of 1881. In 1882, he organized the populist Rikken Kaishintō party (Constitutional Reform Party) and founded the the Tokyo Senmon Gakko (predecessor of the Waseda University). Serving as foreign minister in the first Ito and Kuroda cabinets, he was involved in the revision of treaties. He also served concurrently as foreign, agriculture and commerce ministers in the second Matsukata cabinet. In 1898, he organized the Kenseito party and became prime minister. In 1907 he retired from politics, but returned later and became prime minister again in 1914. (National Diet Library).

*Fukuda Hideko 福田英子 (1865-1929): One of several female activists in early Meiji. (Click here for Aozora Bunko texts.)

*Naruse Jinzō 成瀬仁蔵 (1859-1919): Christian convert and early promoter of women's rights. He founded Nihon joshi daigaku in 1901.

*Tsuda Umeko 津田梅子 (1865-1929): Educator. Born in Tokyo as the daughter of Sen Tsuda, who was a vassal of the Shogun and an agricultural scientist. In 1871, she went to the United States to study in company with the Iwakura mission after she was recruited by the Kaitakushi. St the age of 8 (counted in the old Japanese way), she was one of the first Japanese women to study abroad. She received primary and secondary education in the U.S. and returned to Japan in 1882. After she served as a professor at the Kazoku Jogakko, she went to the United States again in 1889 to study as a special student in biology at Bryn Mawr College. After finishing her courses and returning to Japan in 1892, she began teaching again at both the Kazoku Jogakko and the Higher Normal School for Women. She resigned from these teachings posts and founded the "Joshi Eigaku Juku" (Women's English School; now Tsuda College) in 1900 to promote English learning and education that was respectful of individuality. She was a pioneer of higher education for women. (National Diet Library)

*Ozaki Kōyō 尾崎紅葉 (1868-1903): Novelist and haiku poet. Born in Tokyo. He dropped out of the Imperial University. In 1885, while studying at a preparatory school for university, he formed the Ken'yūsha and issued its organ "Garakuta bunko" (Library of Odds and Ends), jointly with Bimyo Yamada and others. His breakthrough novel is "Ninin bikuni irozange" (Love Confessions of Two Nuns) of 1889, which allowed him to join the Yomiuri Shinbun newspaper company in the same year. He published writings such as "Kyara makura" (Aloeswood Pillow) (1890) and "Tajo Takon" (Passions and regrets) (1896) in the Yomiuri. His very successful serial, "Konjiki Yasha" (The golden demon),began in 1897 but was left unfinished due to his death from illness. He fostered and instructed many pupils including Izumi Kyoka. (National Diet Library) Editor of Yomiuri shimbun literary section; first novel shōyō inspired ninjōshōsetsu ninin bikuni irozange (1889, first issue of shinchō hyakushu; classical style for narrative, colloquial for dialog; resists Futabatei and Bimyō’s hard-line genbunitchi; two nuns confess love for same man who drove both to nunnery; influence on kyōka, katai; wild punction: white periods from Saikaka and dashes/elipses similar to English; note Suzuki Shōsan 17th c work Ninin Bikuni). model for Konjiki yasha (money hungry Otomi (Miya?), her jilted lover Kanichi, and her narikin-born husband Tomiyama; inspired by White Lilies, and Dora Thorn and Bertha Clay novel Weaker Than A Woman; called Japanese Romeo and Juliet by Time magazine) possibly Iwaya Sazanami, in love with kōyōkan waitress. Konjiki yasha (serialized in Yomiuri; finished in 1902) was his last novel; Fūryū kyō ningyō (1889); Tajō takon (1896); Sannin zuma;Aobudō (1895, only pre-Futon shishōsetsu precursor, according to Yoshida Seiji (Hijiya-Kirschnereit, 135). (Click here for Aozora Bunko texts.)

*Yamada Bimyō 山田美妙 (1868-1910): Novelist and poet. At the peak of his career, Bimyō, who had been credited with introducing to Japanese literature technical, "Western" innovations of inverted word order (ending sentences with nominals), style punctuation (commas, ellipses), and free metaphor, was compared not only with the foreign, Western, and new, but also with the native, traditional, and past. Bimyō was a master of anecdotes, binary constructions and rhetoric. Two of his popular historical novels are "Musashino" (The Plains of Musashi, 1887) and "Kocho" (Butterfly, 1889). (Findagrave.com) Genbunitchi advocate after Western influence. (wakankonkōbun to genbunitchi); introduced Western syntax, punctuation (failed); advocate of genbunitchi (desu), along with Futabatei (da) and Kōyō (de aru); homoerotic bakin-infl unofficial hist-fiction (haishi) of 8 c England pretty young Alf the Great tategoto soshi at 18 in bungotai; most serious of Ken'yūsha writers; chōkai shōsetsu tengu (satire of Bakin); admires Bakin but moves away; eventually parts with Ken'ūsha; Jōshijin. (Click here for Aozora Bunko texts.)

*Izumi Kyōka 泉鏡花 (1873-1939): Novelist born in Kanazawa, Ishikawa Prefecture. A disciple of Ozaki Kōyō, Kyōka made his debut as a writer of the socially oriented "problem novels" (kannen shōsetsu) Gekashitsu (The Operating Room, 1895) and Yakō junsa (Night Patrolman, 1895), but his true forte was the creation of a romantic (and melodramatic) world of fantasy described in a densely imagistic style. Works in this vein include Teriha kyōgen (The Teriha Troupe, 1896), Kōya hijiri (The Kōya Saint, 1900), Uta andon (Song of the Troubadour, 1910), and Mayukakushi no rei (The Ghost with Hidden Eyebrows, 1924). (Mark Jewel, jlit.net) Mother died while young; longing for mother a major theme in his works. (Click here for Aozora Bunko texts.)

*Tayama Katai 田山花袋 (1872-1930): Ken'yūsha and, later, naturalist novelist credited with writing the first shishōsetsu. Tayama’s early work was highly romantic, but with the essay “Rokotsu naru byōsha” (1904; “Straightforward Description”) he pointed the way toward the more realistic path he was to follow under French influence. The injunction to observe strict objectivity and to describe things as they are, deriving from the early French naturalists Guy de Maupassant and the brothers Edmond and Jules Goncourt, developed into a major genre in Japanese literature—the shishōsetsu, or “autobiographical novel.” His Onna no kyoshi was published in 1903, but Futon (1907; “The Quilt”) made his reputation. It described in embarrassing detail the attraction of a middle-aged writer (the author) to a young female student. A trilogy of autobiographical novels, Sei (1908; “Life”), Tsuma (1908–09; “Wives”), and En (1910; “The Bond”), fixed the distinguishing form of Japanese naturalism. Inaka kyōshi (1909; “A Country Schoolmaster”) showed the influence of the Goncourts and of Gustave Flaubert’s Madame Bovary. Tayama’s essay on his own literary theories, “Katai bunwa” (1911; “Katai’s Literary Discourses”), introduced into the critical language the term heimen byōsha (“plain description”), with which he is identified. In later years, with the decline in the influence of naturalism, he entered a period of personal confusion from which he emerged with a calm, almost religious attitude, which was reflected in Zansetsu (1918; “Lingering Snow”). (Encyclopædia Britannica) popularity declines with rise of mass media newspaper shōsetsu; less demand for aloof bundan writer. (Click here for Aozora Bunko texts.)

*Kawakami Bizan 川上眉山 (1869-1908): Ken'yūsha novelist. In the 1890s, Bizan, along with Izumi Kyoka, helped to create the genre of kannnen shōsetsu, which attempted to address social ills. In 1908, Bizan killed himself with a razor. (Click here for Aozora Bunko texts.)

*Oguri Fūyō 小栗風葉 (1875-1926): Writer. Born in Aichi Prefecture. Moved to Tokyo at the age of 17 and joined a literary society, Ken'yūsha, led by Koyo Ozaki. Studied literature under Ozaki and published highly socially satirical novels, such as Neoshiroi (Face Powder Before Bed) and Kikkozuru (a famous fictional sake). Although the love story about a writer from Aichi, Seishun (The Youth) became a best seller, but Ane no imoto (Sisters) published in 1909 was banned, and he spent his twilight years quietly focusing on writing in his hometown of Toyohashi. (lib.city.minato.tokyo.jp) Part of second wave of Ken'yūsha writers; moves Ken'yūsha toward West, shizenshugi; Edo work influence (ryūtei, tamenaga); Edo tastes influence Kafū; b Aichi-ken, moves to Tokyo in 1889; Kōyō’s deshi; wanders around Kyūshū, writes about it; editor of joshi bundan; writes Neoshiroi (1896) about incest among eta class; friendship w/ Katai; Koizame (1907) influenced by Katai's Futon in that it addresses middle-aged male love (chūnen no koi); Zola, Mauppaussant, Schopenhauer influence; anti-proletariat Nakamura Murao one of pupils; Seishun (1905, Turgenev influence, about state of Japan after Nichiro sensō, which Hōgetsu pans for unpitiable characters); Elder Sister Younger Sister banned by Chūōkōron (1909); Twain-influenced Curious Dream. (Click here for Aozora Bunko texts.)

*Higuchi Ichiyō 樋口一葉 (1872-1896): Novelist and poet. Born in Tokyo. In 1886, she entered the Haginoya poetry academy of Utako Nakajima. Her father's death in 1889 forced her to earn the family's living. In 1891, she became a pupil of Tosui Nakarai and began writing stories. "Umoregi" (Undiscovered Wood), published in 1892, became a breakthrough hit and won her contacts with people in the "Bungakkai" (the literary world). To earn a living, she also ran a shop dealing in household goods and cheap sweets at Ryusenji-machi in Shitaya-ku. Higuchi left not only novels such as "Otsugomori" (The Last Day of the Year) (1894), "Nigorie" (Muddy Bay) (1895), and "Takekurabe" (Growing Up) (1895), but also her diaries. She died in poverty of lung tuberculosis. (National Diet Library) (Click here for Aozora Bunko texts.)

*Kuroiwa Ruikō 黒岩涙香 (1862-1920): Newspaper journalist, translator, and novelist. Born in Kochi, the son of a goshi (lower-ranked samurai) of the Tosa Clan. He left the Keio Gijuku before graduation. He successively assumed the editorships of several newspapers, including Eiri jiyu shinbun and Miyako Shinbun, and founded the newspaper "Yorozu choho" in 1892. The Yorozu gained popularity for its social exposures, entertainment articles, and Ruikō's serialized novel. It developed a reputation as a pioneering popular newspaper, and circulation grew rapidly. Ruikō became an advocate of the Russo-Japanese War, causing staff such as Uchimura Kanzo and Kotoku Shusui to resign from the company. During the Taisho Period, Ruikō also showed strong interest in politics, joining the movement to Protect Constitutional Government and criticizing the Siemens Incident. His notable writings include adaptation novels such as "Tekkamen" (Iron mask), "Gankutsuo", and "Aa mujo". (National Diet Library) (Click here for Aozora Bunko texts.)

*Naitō Konan 内藤湖南 (1866-1934): Historian. Born in Akita. Graduate of Akita Normal School. After coming to Tokyo, he was active in writing and editing for magazines and newspapers such as "Nihonjin" (The Japanese) and "Osaka asahi shinbun". He also deepened his knowledge of Chinese studies. From 1907, he taught East Asian history at the History Department of the Kyoto Imperial University. He became a professor in 1909 and taught until his mandatory retirement in 1926. Member of the Japan Imperial Academy. His studies and achievements covered fields in Japanese history as well as periodization, ancient history, and the history of the Qing dynasty in China. (National Diet Library) (Click here for Aozora Bunko texts.)

*Yamaji Aizan 山路愛山 (1864-1917): Reporter, popular historian, liberal imperialist, and Christian. Worked for Tokutomi Sohō's Min'yūsha magazine. Founded Dokuritsu hyōron. Founded Kokka shakaitō to counter Marxism. Participated in 人生相渉論争 debate with Tōkoku about relation between self and society in literature. (Click here for Aozora Bunko texts.)

*Miyake Setsurei 三宅雪嶺 (1860-1945): Journalist, social philosopher, historian, nationalist. Born in Ishikawa, the son of a Confucian doctor serving in the Kanazawa Clan. He graduated from the Department of Philosophy at Tokyo University in 1883. In 1888, Miyake helped found the Seikyōsha (Society for Political Education) and its magazine, "Nihonjin," where he advocated pure nationalism (Kokusui shugi) through such writings as "Shinzenbi Nihonjin" (Goodness, truth and beauty of Japanese) and "Giakushu Nihonjin" (False, evil and ugly Japanese) (1891). In 1907, the "Nihonjin" (The Japanese) was renamed "Nihon oyobi nihonjin" (Japan and the Japanese), and Miyake became its chief editor. He also founded the magazine "Gakan" in 1923. His main writings as philosopher include "Tetsugakukenteki" (1889) and "Uchu" (The Universe) (1909). He continued to write a detailed chronicle of modern history called "Do jidai kan" until the last year of his life. He received the Order of Culture in 1943. (National Diet Library). Student of Fenollosa; advocates kokusui; admirer of Kant and Socrates; articles Shinzenbi nihonjin and Giakushū nihonjin in 1891. (Click here for Aozora Bunko texts.)

*Tachibana Sensaburō ？(1890): Scholar of Japanese literature who helped found the modern field of kokubungaku ("national literature") by combining Tokugawa-era kokugaku with German philology. Tachibana was appointed president of Kokugakuin University in 1917.

*Tokutomi Sohō 徳富蘇峰 (1863-1957): Journalist, critic, publicist and historian. Born in Kumamoto, the son of a goshi (lower-ranked samurai) of the Higo Clan. After studying at Kumamoto Yogakko (western studies school), he entered Doshisha-Eigakko (Doshisha Academy for English Studies), but left the academy before graduation. He returned to Kumamoto and founded the Oe Gijuku. Since he acquired a good reputation after writing "Shorai no Nihon" (The Future Japan) (1886), he moved to Tokyo and founded the Min'yusha (Society of the People's Friends). He issued the "Kokumin no tomo" (The Nation's Friend) and the "Kokumin shinbun" newspapers and advocated populism (heimin shugi). He converted to nationalism (Kokken shugi) later, and became a Counselor of the Home Ministry of Chokunin rank in the Matsukata cabinet in 1897. He was also deeply involved in the Katsura cabinet. After retiring from the Kokumin shinbun newspaper in 1929, he became a guest writer for the Osaka Mainichi Shinbun. In 1942, he became Chairman of Nihon Bungaku Hokokukai (Patriotic Association for Japanese Literature) and the Dai-Nihon Genron Hokokukai (Japanese Journalism Patriotic Association). He received the Order of Culture in 1943. He was designated as a Class-A war criminal after WWII and excluded from public office. He completed the 100-volume "Kinsei Nihon kokumin shi" (A History of Early Modern Japan) in 1952. (National Diet Library). One-time Christian & liberal (heiminshugi, nationalist, Pan-Asianist by late 1890s, ultranationalist by 1920s; anti-feudal, believer in economic development, break w/ past; advocate of second revolution; "states" rights; founded Bungakukai w/ Morita Shiken, founded progressive socially aware mag kokumin no tomo (copied from The Nation) and Min'yūsha (’86-). Shōrai no nihon (1887, democratize! avoid colonization!); “insider” (works within national system); Shin nippon no seinen (1887).

*Taguchi Ukichi 田口卯吉 (1855-1905): Economist, historian, and statesman. Born in Tokyo as the son of a vassal of the Shogun. Although he had at first wanted to become a physician, he started to write the "Nihon kaika shōshi" (Short History of Japanese Civilization) (1877-82) and "Jiyu Koeki Nihon Keizai Ron" (A Free Trade Policy For Japan) (1878), while learning economics and English in the Translation Bureau of the Finance Ministry. He resigned from the office in 1878 and founded the Keizai Zasshi-sha in the following year, issuing the "Tokyo keizai zasshi" (Tokyo Journal of Economics). He published many articles and contributed to the foundation of the former Tokyo Stock Exchange and management of railway companies. He served as a member of the House of Representatives after 1894. He also reproduced and edited some voluminous historical libraries such as "the Gunsho ruiju" (Classified Collection of Japanese Classics) (1894) and "the Kokushi taikei" (1901). He was a Doctor of jurisprudence. (National Diet Library) (Click here for Aozora Bunko texts.)

*Itō Noe 伊藤野枝 (1895-1923): Feminist, social critic, author, and anarchist. She and her lover Ōsugi Sakae were murdered by police shortly after the 1923 earthquake. (Click here for Aozora Bunko texts.)

*Ishibashi Ningetsu 石橋忍月 (1865-1926): Critic and novelist best remembered for his 1890 critique of Mori Ōgai's "Maihime" published in the journal Kokumin no tomo. (Click here for Aozora Bunko texts.)

*Ōwada Takeki 大和田建樹 (1857-1910): wabungakushi (1902), part of age of literary history

*Takekoshi Sansa (Yosaburō) 竹越与三郎 (与三郎) (1865-1950): Historian, Min’yūsha critic and statesman. Born in Saitama, he attended the Keio Gijuku. From 1890 to 1895, he worked at the Kokumin Shinbun company as a journalist before becoming Chief Editor of "Sekai no Nihon" (Japan in the World) magazine in 1896. He became a secretary to the Education Minister, Kinmochi Saionji, in 1898, and was elected to the House of Representatives in 1902 as a member of the Rikken Seiyukai (Friends of Constitutional Government Party). In 1920, he was appointed to the Provisional Bureau for Compiling the Chronicle of the Imperial Family, which had been installed in the Imperial Household Ministry. Takekoshi also worked on the compilation of the "Meiji Tenno Ki" (Record of Emperor Meiji) as the Chief of the Editorial Board in 1921. In 1922, he was appointed to the House of Peers by Imperial command and to the Privy Councilor in 1940. His "Shin nihonshi" (A New History of Japan) (1891-92) and "Nisen Gohyakunen Shi" (A History of 2500 Years) (1896) have been reputed to be masterpieces of private historical writings. (National Diet Library). Proponent of "hard literature" (kōbungaku). (Click here for Aozora Bunko texts.)

*Kidera Ryūjirō ？: tokugawa/meiji divide

*Ueda Bin 上田敏 (1874-1916): Novelist and translator. Born in Tsukiji, he graduated from Tokyo Imperial University. His major work is Kaichōon 海潮音(The Sound of the Tide, 1905), a collection of translations of Western poets. Other works include his novel Uzumaki (1910), and numerous translations of French, German and English poetry. The term "bungei" was supposedly coined by Bin in his article "Bungeishi." (Click here for Aozora Bunko texts.)

*Nakazato Kaizan 中里介山 (1885-1944): Novelist, Christian, and political activist. Member of Heiminsha group from 1903-5. Kaizan resisted fascism to some extent during war. He is best known for his epic novel Daibosatsu-toge (1913-41, bakumatsu setting). (Click here for Aozora Bunko texts.)

*Nakamura Masanao (Keiu) 中村正直 (敬宇) (1832-1891): Educator, scholar, founder of Shintaishi-shō magazine. Born in Edo as the son of a policeman of the shogunate. After studying at the Shoheizaka Gakumonjo (official school of the Shogunate), he became a professor of the school in 1855, and then became a Confucian scholar of the shogunate in 1862. In 1866, he was sent to England as a supervisor of Japanese students dispatched to England by the shogunate. Returning to Japan after the Meiji Restoration, he moved to Shizuoka, where he translated and published the best-selling "Saigoku risshi hen" (Self Help) and "Jiyu no kotowari" (On Liberty). Coming to Tokyo in 1872, he served at the Finance Ministry. In 1873, he opened a private school called Dojinsha. In 1874, he joined the Meirokusha (intellectual society). He became interested in Christianity and was baptized. He also made efforts to promote girls' education and education for the blind and the speech-impaired. He became a professor of Tokyo University in 1881, and a member of the Chamber of Elders in 1886. He was a Doctor of Literature. (National Diet Library). Wrote China Should Not Be Despised article in 1875 at height of bunmeikaika; sought blending of East and West; attracted to Protestantism; found overlap between Confucian and Western values; coins term ryōsaikenbo; essay on evils of novels.

*Mori Arinori 森有礼 (1847-1889): Diplomat, ambassador, first minister of education, founder of Meirokusha, statesman, imperial nationalist (though he advocated Westernization of education system), statist, leading figure of Meirokusha. Born in Kagoshima as the son of a samurai of the Kagoshima Clan. He studied at the clan school Zoshikan and the Western studies school Kaiseijo. In 1865, he was sent by the clan to Britain to study. In 1868, he returned after a stay in the United States, and worked for the new government as choshi (government officer), foreign affairs judge, deputy chairman of Kogisho (advisory council on reform of the parliamentary system), and deputy vice-director-general of Seidoryo (agency preparing for a reorganization of the government offices). After temporarily resigning and returning to his home province, he resumed his service. In 1873, after working in the United States, he established the Meirokusha (intellectual society) and worked to spread Western thought. In 1875, he assisted the establishment of the Shoho Koshujo (Japan's first commercial college, predecessor of Hitotsubashi University). Thereafter, he successively served as resident minister to China (Qing), taifu (senior vice minister) of foreign affairs, resident minister to Great Britain, member of Sanjiin (legislative advisory council) and Education Ministry official. In addition, he was appointed education minister in the first Ito and Kuroda cabinets. On the very day of promulgation of the constitution, he was assaulted by an ultranationalist and died the next day. (National Diet Library). traveled abroad; women's issues/emancipation, mekake legal status; though an ardent nationalist, assassinated by ultranationalist; founded first commercial college (later became Hitotsubashi); adopt English as national language! P.E. in schools!

*Kunikida Doppo 国木田独歩 (1871-1908): Novelist, poet and journalist. Born in Chiba. He dropped out of the Tokyo Senmon Gakko in 1891. While studying there, he was baptized by Masahisa Uemura, and enjoyed Soho Tokutomi's favor in Seinen Bungakukai (the young literary world). In 1894, he joined the Kokumin shinbun newspaper. He served in the Sino-Japanese War as a reporter. Following the end of the war, he compiled a collection of poems that were published in newspapers and magazines as "Doppo gin" (Doppo's Poems) and in "Jojoshi" (Lyric Poems) (1897), a joint publication with Katai Tayama and others. He later published a romantic short story titled "Musashino" (1901), which he followed with "Doppo shu" (Doppo Collection) (1905) and "Unmei" (Destiny) (1906). With these works, he was called the forerunner of naturalism. (National Diet Library). Discovered landscape (Karatani); Musashino (1897-9, in kokumin no tomo); Christian for a while; Unmei (1906; collection of first-person stories, received as autobiographical). (Click here for Aozora Bunko texts.)

*Kitamura Tōkoku 北村透谷 (1868-1894): Romantic poet, essayist, critic, and privatizer of literature. Although Tōkoku enrolled at the Tokyo Senmon Gakko (now Waseda University) aiming to become a politician, he was expelled after joining the Freedom and People’s Rights Movement (Jiyū minken undō). After almost a year of vigorous activities, he left the movement while he was questioning its purpose and decided to become a novelist, contributing to Bungakkai. After he married in 1888, he published the long verse Soshu no shi (The Poem of the Prisoner) and the poetic drama Horaikyoku (The Drama of Mount Horai). He subsequently launched the magazine Bungakukai with Fujimura Shimazaki and Shimazaki Tōson in 1893, wrote reviews such as the “Naibu Seimeiron” (Theory of Internal Life), and led the Christian- and Emerson-inspired Romanticism Movement that followed the failed political movements of the third decade of Meiji, but he committed suicide the following year. Tōkoku also introduced the modern concept of ren’ai love (as opposed to the traditional koi). His debate with Yamaji Aizan about the relationship between the individual and the social is also well known. (Minato City Library) (Click here for Aozora Bunko texts.)

*Shimamura Hōgetsu 島村抱月 (1871-1918): Prominent Naturalist critic, novelist and leading promoter of Shingeki. Born in Shimane. After graduating from the Tokyo Senmon Gakko, he became a writer for the "Waseda Bungaku" (Waseda Literature), where he wrote his literary reviews. In 1897, he founded the magazine "Shincho Gekkan" and also wrote novels. He went to Europe to study in 1902. After he returned to Japan, he became a professor at Waseda University in 1905. He published many reviews in the revived "Waseda Bungaku" and in 1909 he joined the Bungei Kyōkai (Association of Literary Arts), founded by Tsubouchi Shōyō. During this period, he also translated and directed foreign dramas. Retiring from the Bungei Kyōkai in 1913, he founded the Geijutsuza with Matsui Sumako, contributing to the popularization of modern plays. (National Diet Library). Shishōsetsu, kannenshōsetsu (coins term); aestheticization of everyday life. (Click here for Aozora Bunko texts.)

*Shimazaki Tōson 島崎藤村 (1871-1943): Poet and novelist. Born in Nagano, the son of a village headman who was running a Honjin (official inn) at Kiso Magomejuku. A graduate of Meiji Gakuin. While studying there, Shimazaki was baptized and his interest in literature increased. He launched the magazine "Bungakkai" (the Literary World) with Tokoku Kitamura and other staff in 1893. He published "Wakanashu" (Collection of Young Herbs) (1897), "Hitohabune" (1898), "Natsukusa" (1898), and "Rakubaishu" (1901), winning a reputation as new-style poet (Shintaishijin). Later, he became known as a representative naturalistic novelist for writing the hugely popular "Hakai" (the broken commandment) (1906), and publishing "Shinsei" (New Life) (1918-19), "Yoake Mae" (Before The Dawn) (1929-35). (National Diet Library) The “national poet” (of the good variety; though challenged by Takayama Chogyū); Haru (1908; Futon-influenced); Shinsei (novel about affair with niece). (Click here for Aozora Bunko texts.)

*Sōma Gyofū 相馬御風 (1883-1950): Poet, translator, and critic. Soma Gyofu was an active poet and literary critic from the Meiji Period through into the Showa Period. He wrote the words for the college song of Waseda University and for some children's songs, which are still sung today. He was born to a leading old family in Itoigawa, his father being the fourth mayor of Itoigawa. Having close acquaintance with waka and haiku, he published a poem in a magazine at the age of nineteen. After entering Waseda University, he started to publish a magazine and advocated the development of Romantic literature and the reformation of poems, which ushered in a new phase in the world of poetry. After graduating from the university, he took charge of editing the magazine 'Waseda Bungaku' and was active as a naturalist critic. He also devoted himself to the humanitarianism of Tolstoi and translated many pieces of Russian literature, including War and Peace and Anna Karenina. He also left many writings on Ryokan. (hometown.infocreate.co.jp) vitalism; advocated fusion of subjective and objective in essay 文芸上主客両体の融会 (1907). (Click here for Aozora Bunko texts.)

*Iwano Hōmei 岩野泡鳴 (1873-1920): Prominent "naturalist" novelist. Hōmei was eccentric, egocentric, and fanatic in every aspect, both as a man and as an author. His literary activities, which consisted chiefly of fiction-writing and journalistic works, functioned as a symbol of his attitudes towards his 'self,' things specifically Japanese, and womankind. His authorship certainly was manifold, but it was 'homogeneous' with the thread which links his self-centeredness, his fanatic nationalism and his belief in monogamy. The centripetal inclination of Hōmei manifested itself in his theory of 'the monistic description' (ichigen byōsha). His 'subjective' method of description in fact was a criticism of his rival Tayama Katai's 'flat description' (heimen byōsha) based on his somewhat formalistic and indifferent defeatist-like attitude towards life. (Yoichi Nagashima, aasianst.org) Shintaishi no sahō (1907) and Shintaishi-shi (1907-8); Tandeki (1909); fanatic about everything (monogamist, nationalist, egoist); ichigen shugi- sought objective and unsentimental ichigen byōsha of self; setsunashugi; nationalistic modern project (anti-China; ultranationalist; anti-classical language (Bourdaghs, 7); Shintaishi no sahō (1907) and Shintaishi-shi (1907-8); Shinpiteki hanjūshugi (1906) and Shinshizenshugi (1908); founded magazine Shinnihonshugi in 1916; series of autobiographical novels; unique, obnoxious, eccentric, awkward, "fabulous fool" (Ōsugi's phrase) Don Quixote type; five novels between 1910 and 1918 (Hōrō; Dankyō; Hatten; Dokuyaku wo nomu onna; Tsukimono-- all through Tamura Yoshio, his alter-ego); invented word hassō. see Ishikawa Jun's essay on him: Iwano Homeiden. monist qualities; Joycean Jamesean qualitites. (Click here for Aozora Bunko texts.)

*Chikamatsu (Tokuda) Shūkō 近松（徳田）秋江 (1876-1944): I-novelist and critic who repeatedly addressed the same incidents in his fiction. Later in his career, however, he wrote several works of historical fiction. Though considered an exemplary I-novelist, he was also a great admirer of Ozaki Kouyou, Higuchi Ichiyou, and other master stylists of the previous generation. His works include Wakaretaru tsuma ni okuru tegami (1910), . . . (Click here for Aozora Bunko texts.)

*Morita Sōhei 森田草平 (1881-1949): Novelist and translator. Born in Gifu, Sōhei won critical acclaim with his largely autobiographical novel Baien, published in 1909. In his later years he turned to historical fiction, and also became a member of the Communist party. (Click here for Aozora Bunko texts.)

*Kasai Zenzō 葛西善蔵 (1887-1928): Novelist. Born in Aomori, shuffled around after parents' deaths. In 1912, Kasai joined Funaki Shigeo and Hirotsu Kazuo in founding a new literary magazine, Kiseki ("Miracle"), and contributed various works to it. Kasai wrote novels in an autobiographical naturalist style, which was a forerunner of the "I novel". In 1918, he published Ko o tsuretete ("With Children in Tow") in the Waseda Bungaku magazine, which gained him wide recognition. In his novels, he described his struggles against poverty, illness, alcoholism, and loneliness. His major works include Kanashiki chichi ("Mourning Father", 1912), Akuma ("Devil", 1912), and Kohan Nikki ("Lakeside Diary", 1924). He lived in Kamakura, Kanagawa prefecture for many years, due to the presence of many fellow writers, and because the sea air was considered healthier for his weak lungs. He died in Tokyo at the age of 41 after a long struggle against tuberculosis. His grave is at the temple of Kencho-ji in Kamakura. (answers.com) isciple of Tokuda Shūsei. Founded dōjin zasshi mag Kiseki w/ Hirotsu Kazuo. Waseda bungaku shishōsetsu. Ko o tsurete (1917). (Click here for Aozora Bunko texts.)

*Masamune Hakuchō 正宗白鳥 (1879-1962): Novelist, critic and dramatist born in Okayama Prefecture. A leading representative of the Japanese Naturalist school, Hakuchō’s personality was characterized by an objective attitude and a sharp critical spirit. Major works include Jin’ai (Dust, 1907), Doko e (To Where?, 1908), Doro ningyō (1911), Bikō (A Faint Light), Nippon dasshutsu (Escape from Japan, 1949), and the drama Tenshi hokaku (Captive Angels, 1947). His criticism includes Shizenshugi seisuishi (The Rise and Fall of Naturalism, 1948), and Uchimura Kanzō (1949). Critical of Japanese modernity, he regarded the Edo period as a “heaven of idiocy.” (Mark Jewel, jlit.net)

*Shiga Naoya 志賀直哉 (1883-1971): Novelist. Born in Miyagi. He grew up with his grandparents in Tokyo. A graduate of Gakushuin Senior High School, He left Tokyo Imperial University before graduation. In 1910, he launched the magazine "Shirakaba" with Mushanokoji Saneatsu, Arishima Takeo, and other staff. He published "Abashiri made" and "Kamisori" in 1910. After taking some breaks in his writing activities and living in several places including Onomichi, Matsue, and Kyoto, Shiga published "Kinosaki nite" (At Kinosaki) (1917), "Wakai" (Reconciliation) (1917), "An'ya koro" (A Dark Night's Passing) (1921-1937), and several other works. He was called "bungaku no kamisama" or patron saint of literature and had a great influence on many storywriters. In 1949, he was awarded the Order of Culture. (National Diet Library). Wavering consciousness, subject/object prb.

*Hirotsu Kazuo 広津和郎 (1891-1968): Naturalist shisōsetsu novelist and critic associated with Kiseki group, which he helped found in 1912. Son of Meiji novelist Hirotsu Ryūrō. He made his debut as a writer with Shinkeibyō jidai (A Case of Nerves, 1917), about a nervous breakdown. Major fictional works are Fūu tsuyokarubeshi (Strong Wind, Heavy Rain, 1934), incorporating a radical criticism of reality, Aomugi (Green Wheat, 1936), and Rekishi to rekishi no aida (History and In-between, 1941). Hirotsu’s criticism includes Sanbungeijutsu no ichi (The Status of Prose, 1924), Sakusha no kansō (A Writer’s Impressions, 1920), and Matsukawa saiban (The Matsukawa Trial, 1958). (Mark Jewel, jlit.net)

*Uno Kōji 宇野浩二 (1891-1961): Writer of shishōsetsu and, later, popular fiction. He is best known for his works Kura no naka (1919). Initiates revolution in prose style with his jōzetsutai, begins anti-Shiga buntai revolution. Rakugo influenced storytelling style. Makes shinkyōshōsetsu comeback in 1933 with Kareki no aru fūkei (Landscape With Withered Tree) and zokubutsu tekibungeikan (1937). Defends shishōsetsu in Shishōsetsu shiken (1925), holds up shinkyōshōsetsu as Asian form, which disappears for 10 years due to Taishō proletariat and popular culture.

*Kume Masao 久米正雄 (1891-1952): Shishōsetsu and popular fiction writer, playwright. Kume was born in 1891 in Nagano Prefecture. While studying at Tokyo University, he helped Akutagawa Ryunosuke and Kikuchi Kan to launch the third series of the literary journal Shin Shicho (New Currents of Thought). With Akutagawa he became a pupil of Natsume Soseki in 1915. By the following year, he was already publishing prolifically, including the story "Chichi no Shi" (My Father’s Death), and the play, "Abukuma Shinju" (Love Suicides at Abukuma), and became recognized as an up-and-coming writer. After Soseki’s death, Kume wrote about his unrequited love for Soseki’s daughter in stories such as "Hotaru Gusa", "Hasen" (Shipwreck), and "Bosan" (Visit to a Grave), which brought him fame as a popular novelist. In 1918 he founded the Kokumin Bungeikai (People’s Arts Movement) with Osanai Kaoru and Kubota Mantaro and devoted his energy to improving the Japanese theater. Kume also wrote literary criticism and translated Western works. Furthermore, he had been interested in haiku verse since his early teens and wrote under the pen name, Santei. He was a disciple of Kawahigashi Hekito and published anthologies such as "Maki Uta" (Pastoral Song) and "Kaeribana." The writer lived in Kamakura from 1925, first at Omachi, then Yukinoshita, and settling down in 1930 at Nikaido, where he lived until his death in 1952 at the age of 60. He was a prominent figure in Kamakura literary circles, helping to establish the Kamakura P.E.N. Club and running the Kamakura Bunko lending library.(city.kamakura.kanagawa.jp) 1925 essay "Shishōsetsu to shinkyō shōsetsu" in shinkyō vs. honkaku or shishōsetsuron w/ Satō Haruo, Kobayashi Hideo, etc; eastern-mystic orientalism. (Click here for Aozora Bunko texts.)

*Mushanokōji Saneatsu 武者小路実篤 (1885-1976): Novelist, painter. Born in Tokyo, the son of a court noble. After studying at the Gakushuin, he entered the Tokyo Imperial University, but left school before graduation. He became acquainted with Shiga Naoya and others while studying at Gakushuin Senior High School. In 1910, together with Shiga, Arishima Takeo, and others, Mushanokoji established "Shirakaba" magazine, where he published works energetically. After publishing "Atarashiki mura no seikatsu" (The life in a new village) in 1918, he created a community village in Miyazaki Prefecture in which he lived until 1925. In 1937, he became a member of the Japan Art Academy. He served as Chairman of the Dramatic Literature Division of the Nihon Bungaku Hokokukai (Patriotic Association for Japanese Literature). After the war, he was removed from public office under the Occupation Purge. In 1951, he received the Order of Culture. His representative works include "Omedetaki hito" (Good-Natured Person), "Yujo" (Friendship), "Aru Otoko" (A Certain Man), and "Shinri sensei" (Teacher of Truth). Mushanokoji was also active as a painter, founding an art exhibition. (National Diet Library)

*Arishima Takeo 有島武郎 (1878-1923): Novelist. Born in Tokyo. After studying at Gakushuin, he entered the Sapporo Agricultural College and converted to Christianity. In 1903, Arishima went to study in the U.S., where his faith in Christianity weakened as hebecame attracted to socialism and leaned towards Kropotkin's anarchism. After studying in the U.S.A. for 3 years, he traveled around Europe before returning to Japan. In 1910, he joined "Shirakaba" (White Birch) and started to write. His works include "Umareizuru Nayami" (The Agony of Coming into Existence) (1918), "Aru Onna" (A Certain Woman) (1919), and "Oshiminaku Ai wa Ubau" (Love Robs without Hesitation) (1920). Due to intensified anguish over his family's bourgeois status under the social circumstances following World War I, not only did Arishima publish "Sengen hitotsu" (A declaration) (1922), but he also offered his large farm to tenants free of charge. In the next year, he committed suicide with Akiko Hatano. (National Diet Library) (Click here for Aozora Bunko texts.)

*Nakamura Akika 中村秋香 (1841-1910): Scholar of Japanese literature and poet. Born in Shizuoka. His father was a samurai of the Shizuoka Clan, as well as the clan doctor. His mother was a daughter of a scholar of ancient Japanese culture, Naohide Matsuki. In 1853, he started to work for the clan as a cadet jodai-yoriki samurai in Sumpu Castle. In 1856, he became a student of Kin-en Matsuki and learned Chinese studies from Sekizai Totsuka. In 1871, on haihan chiken (the abolition of clans and establishment of prefectures), he entered government service with Aichi Prefecture. He worked for the Religion Ministry in 1873, and the Education Ministry in 1879, Tokyo Women's Normal School in 1890 and the First Higher Middle School in 1891. In 1897, on the recommendation of Masakaze Takasaki, he joined the staff of Ōtadokoro (Imperial Poetry Bureau). In addition, in 1902, he was appointed a School Song Selection Board member. He wrote many commentaries on waka poems and Japanese classics. (National Diet Library)

*Narushima Ryūhoku 成島柳北 (1837-1884): Essayist, journalist, poet in Chinese style. Born in Tokyo as the son of a Confucian scholar serving the shogunate. He was assigned the same duty as his father in 1856 and taught Confucian scripture to Iesada Tokugawa and Iemochi Tokugawa. In 1863, he was placed in confinement at home on the grounds that he had satirized the shogunate in a poem. He was reappointed in 1865 and went on to successively hold important posts as Gaikoku Bugyo (magistrate of foreign affairs) and Vice-director of Finance. After the Meiji Restoration, he published "Ryukyo shinshi" in 1874 and in September of the same year, he also became the chief editor of the "Choya shinbun," where he made a name for himself with his satire-rich writing. In 1877, he founded the literary journal "Kagetsu shinshi." (National Diet Library)

*Tokuda Shūsei 徳田秋声 (1871-1943): Novelist born in the city of Kanazawa, Ishikawa Prefecture. He left the Fourth High School to become a disciple of the novelist Ozaki Kōyō, supporting himself by working at a publishing company and a newspaper. After Kōyō’s death, Tokuda established a reputation as a Naturalist writer with the publication of Arajotai (A New Family, 1908), which was based on his own life. He continued to write in the same autobiographical vein, publishing such works as Kabi (Mold, 1911), Tadare (Putrescence, 1913), Kasō jinbutsu (Incognito, 1935), and Shukuzu (A Scale Reproduction, 1941). (Mark Jewel, jlit.net) Early on in career a member of the Ken'yūsha group, later moves to shizenshugi; poorly educated; artless tyle; down and out classes; contributes to 1933 comeback of shinkyōshōsetsu. (Click here for Aozora Bunko texts.)

*Yosano Akiko 与謝野晶子 (1878-1942): Poet. Born in Osaka. A graduate of the Sakai Girls' School. After joining the Kansai Seinen Bungakukai (the young literary world) in 1899, she participated in Tokyo Shinshisha, established by Tekkan Yosano in 1900. She published tanka poems in a monthly publication titled "Myōjō" (Bright Star). She had a romantic relationship with Tekkan and came to Tokyo. She published "Midaregami" (Tangled Hair) in August 1901, which created a great sensation. In the same year, she married Tekkan. Akiko went on to publish many collections of poems as a representative of Japanese Romanticism. Among them, "Kimi shinitamo koto nakare" (You shall not die), published during the Russo-Japanese War, is famous. She was active in fields outside of Tanka as well. She translated "Genji Monogatari" (the Tale of Genji) into modern Japanese, helped found the Bunka Gakuin in 1921, and made constructive statements on problems of women and education. (National Diet Library) (Click here for Aozora Bunko texts.)

*Masaoka Shiki 正岡子規 (1867-1902): Poet, haiku reformer. Born in Ehime, the son of a samurai of the Matsuyama Clan. A dropout of the College of Literature of the Imperial University. After joining the Nihon Shinbun in 1892, he promoted a movement to reform haiku and tanka poems and advocated the use of realism. He also engaged in literary activities mainly by writing for the Nippon newspaper. After serving in the Sino-Japanese War, he became ill and spent his life in bed coughing up blood. During this time, however, he wrote "Haikai Taiyo" (Essentials of haikai) (serialized from 1895, and published in 1899) and encouraged the haiku magazine "Hototogisu". In 1898, he started a serial called "Utayomi ni atauru sho" (A Book Bestowed on Composers of Poems) to reform tanka and also presided over the Negishi Tanka Society. His writings include a collection of haiku "Kanzan rakuboku" (Cold Mountain, Withered Trees) (1924) and a collection of waka "Take no Sato Uta" (Songs from a Bamboo Village) (1904). Among his disciples were Kyoshi Takahama and Sachio Ito. (National Diet Library) (Click here for Aozora Bunko texts.)

*Fujioka Sakutarō 藤岡作太郎 (1870-1910): Scholar of Japanese literature; kokubungakushi kōwa (1908). Also published Japan's first systematic history of art (Wilson, The Lone Samurai). (Click here for Aozora Bunko texts.)

*Kitahara Hakushū 北原白秋 (1885-1942): Tanka and modern verse poet and fascist. Born in 1885 in Kyushu. His real name was Ryukichi. His talent was recognized from an early age and he began contributing both tanka verse and longer poems to magazines while he was still in his teens. His long poem, "Zento Kakusei no Fu," received a prize in a competition sponsored by the Waseda Gakuho magazine, and this led to many other of his poems being published. Although he entered Waseda University, he never completed his studies there. In 1906, he was invited by Yosano Hiroshi (Tekkan) to join his poetry group, Shinshisha (New Poetry), but left after a while to form the coterie, Pan no Kai (Pan Society), where he became acquainted with many other poets and artists. In 1909, he became one of the founding members the literary magazine, Subaru (The Pleiades), where he published his first collection of verses, Jashumon (Heretics). In 1913, he displayed original romanticism in his first collection of tanka verse, Kiri no Hana (Pawlonia Blossoms). Hakushu helped the children's writer Suzuki Miekichi set up the children's magazine, Akai Tori (Red Bird) and himself contributed many nursery songs. With the publication of the anthology, Tombo no Medama (The Eyes of a Dragonfly), he was recognized as a truly talented writer of children's verse. He also took a great interest in writing the verse for new folk songs. In 1935, Hakushu founded Tama, a tanka verse magazine, and became known as the spearhead of the fourth stage of the symbolist movement. Among his proteges were Kimata Osamu and Miya Shuji. Hakushu was a prolific writer and his other publications include the verse anthologies, Tokyo Keibutsushi sonota, and Suibokushu (Collection of Ink Drawings); tanka collections, Kuro Hinoki, and Botan no Ki (Peony Tree), and prose poem, Suzume no Seikatsu (A Sparrow's Life). In 1941, Hakushu brought his family to the Kamakura Kaihin Hotel by the beach and a collection of tanka poems bearing the same name was inspired by this visit. He died the following year at the age of 57. (city.kamakura.kanagawa.jp) Emotional life of individual primary; banzai hitora yu-gento! (Click here for Aozora Bunko texts.)

*Takamura Kōtarō 高村光太郎 (1883-1956): Japanese poet, sculptor, and fascist. After studying art in France, where he was profoundly influenced by Rodin, Takamura devoted his career to applying Western aesthetics to Japanese poetry and sculpture. Takamura's poetry, almost all in free verse, underwent many changes. His early decadent style later shifted to one of simplicity and direct expression. Perhaps regretting the militaristic literary stance he assumed during World War II, Takamura retired from public life after the war. Takamura is best known for his series of poignant poems written about his wife Chieko, whom he watched slowly descend into madness. (Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia). Involvement with Shirakaba group. Rodin-influence. (Click here for Aozora Bunko texts.)

*Osaragi Jirō 大佛次郎 (1897-1973): Dilettante novelist, Marxist. Younger brother of Nojiri Hoei, English Literature scholar and astronomer. While still at the First Higher School, Osaragi Jiro was already showing an exceptional talent, with "Ichiko Romance," a story describing life in the dormitory, and he also became absorbed in the theater. After graduating from Tokyo University, he taught for a short time at the Kamakura Higher Girls School (now Kamakura Jogakuin High School) and then became employed at the Foreign Ministry. But he gave up this job too, to devote himself full time to writing. He opened new vistas in popular fiction with historical novels such as "Kurama Tengu," "Teru Hi Kumoru Hi" (Sunny Days Cloudy Days), and "Ako Roshi" (Loyal Retainers of Ako), which were serialized in newspapers and magazines. He also wrote contemporary fiction such as "Shiroi Ane" (White Sister), "Kiribue" (Misty Flute), and "Kikyo" (tr Homecoming), which described the author’s anger at the trivial attitudes that surfaced after the Second World War. Osaragi was deeply influenced by French literature and culture, and wrote non-fiction pieces displaying his deep understanding of controversial events in Europe: "Doreifas jiken" (The Dreyfus Affair), "Buraunje Shogun no Higeki" (The Tragedy of General Boulanger), and "Pari wa Moyu" (Paris is Burning). When he died in 1973 at the age of 75, he was still writing "Tenno no Seiki" (Century of Emperors), a historical chronicle based on the spiritual history of the Japanese people. The author adopted many different pen names in his younger days. "Osaragi Jiro" had its origins in the mid-1920s when he was living near the Daibutsu-Great Buddha-in Kamakura and writing the historical novel, "Hayabusa no Genji," for the magazine, Pocket. (The Chinese characters denoting "Osaragi" are usually read as "Daibutsu.) The name stuck. From 1921, he lived in Hase and then Zaimokuza, and moved to Yukinoshita in 1973, where he spent the rest of his life. Osaragi was a central figure in Kamakura’s literary life, and he also campaigned avidly for the protection of Kamakura’s scenic beauty. (city.kamakura.kanagawa.jp) outsider rōnin period piece novels.

*Yoshikawa Eiji 吉川英治 (1892-1962): Japanese historical novelist who achieved the first rank among 20th-century writers both for his popularized versions of classical Japanese literature. Because of his father’s failure in business, Yoshikawa received only a primary-school education, and his early years were difficult. In 1925 he published Kennan jonan (“Troubles with Swords and Women”), and his position as a writer was established with Naruto hichō (1926–27; “A Secret Record of Naruto”). Later, in the romantic tradition, he wrote some light novels, but gradually he turned to a more serious exploration of the human character; he achieved a kind of perfection with the historical novel Miyamoto Musashi (1935-1939, Musashi), dealing with the life of a famous samurai. Later he tried to penetrate more deeply into the lives of Japanese historical figures in Shin Heike monogatari (1950–57; The Heike Story) and Shihon taihei-ki (1958–61; “A Private Book of War History”). Yoshikawa’s exquisite style, his psychological insight, and his knowledge of history brought him a broad range of readers. In 1960 he became the first popular author to receive the Order of Cultural Merit. (Encyclopedia Brittanica)

*Shibusawa Eiichi 渋沢栄一 (1840-1931): Leading businessman through the Meiji and Taisho Eras, considered to be the father of modern Japanese capitalism. Born in Saitama, the first son of a wealthy farmer. He served in the Hitotsubashi Family, and in 1867, while attending the Paris Exposition with Akitake Tokugawa, he gained knowledge of European industries and systems. In 1869 he served in the new government, and in 1872 he became an official in the Finance Ministry, but retired from it in the following year and entered the business world. While serving as general supervisor and president of the First National Bank, he made great contributions to the establishment and development of many modern enterprises such as Oji Paper, Osaka Spinning, and Tokyo Gas. Adopting the Analects (of Confucius) as standards of moral education, he advocated the "harmony of morality and the economy". In 1916, he retired from the business world, but continued to pour his efforts into social and public works and international friendship. He became a danshaku (baron) in 1900 and shishaku (viscount) in 1920. (National Diet Library) Founded Tokyo stock exchange, first modern bank (daiichi kokuritsu ginkō).

*Miyazawa Kenji 宮沢賢治 (1896-1933): Writer of children's stories, modernist poet, and social activist. Largely unkown during his life, today he is known worldwide for his poetry and stories as well as his devotion to Buddhism. Miyazawa was a teacher of agriculture by profession. Since his death his work has increasingly attracted a devoted following, especially among ecologists, Buddhists, and the literary avant-garde. (ucpress.edu) (Click here for Aozora Bunko texts.)

*Ōya Sōichi 大宅 壮一 (1900-1970): Journalist, Marxist critic, nonfiction writer. Oya Soichi was born in Osaka, Japan, in 1900. He showed an early interest in social issues, and after dropping out of Tokyo University, he became involved in the Japan Fabian Society (a gradualist Socialist group). He was also active as a literary essayist and founded Mass Communication Juku (マスコミ塾, literally "Mass Communication Workshop"). His legacy includes the Oya Soichi Nonfiction Award, which recognizes the contributions of young jouralists, and the Oya Soichi Bunko. Most of his literary works are included in Oya Soichi Zenshu (大宅壮一全集; literally, the "Oya Soichi Complete Collection") published by Ofusha (蒼洋社).

*Ienaga Saburō 家永三郎 (1913-2002 ): Historian, activist, specialist in the history of Japanese thought; war time propagandist (retreat into Buddhist art); political ideologist of the post-war left; Christian; fought against government censorship of textbooks;

*Aono Suekichi 青野季吉 (1890-1961): Marxist critic and journalist. Influential in early Shōwa proletariat lit; Bungei sensen critic before war; revives PEN club after war; affiliated with Nihon Proretaria Bungei Dōmei (1925- ); inaugurated debate on proletariat literature. In 1926 he publishes the essay Shizenseichou to mokuteki ishi, an analysis of Lenin's "What Is To Be Done?" (1926). Banned from political activity in 1938.

*Tanizaki Junichirō 谷崎潤一郎 (1886-1965): Novelist, essayist. A prolific writer whose popularity extended through the reigns of three emperors, Tanizaki is perhaps best known for Sasameyuki (1943-48, tr. The Makioka Sisters, 1957). A detailed account of an Osaka family that embraces a tradition-bound way of life, it was the first major Japanese work of the post-World War II period. Tanizaki's other novels include a modern version of The Tale of Genji ; Some Prefer Nettles (1928, tr. 1955); Quicksand (1928-30, tr. 1994); The Key (1956, tr. 1961), and Diary of a Mad Old Man (1961, tr. 1965). A witness to the Tokyo earthquake of 1923, which destroyed half the city, he moved to the Kansai region (the greater Kyoto-Osaka area), where a more traditional lifestyle still prevailed. The new environment influenced his outlook, and many of his works carry an implied condemnation of excessive interest in Western things. Tanizaki often writes of women, taking as his themes obsessive love, the destructive forces of sexuality, and the dual nature of woman as goddess and demon. His other work includes the selected short stories of Seven Japanese Tales (tr. 1963) and The Gourmet Club (tr. 2001) and the novellas The Reed Cutter (1932, tr. 1994) and Captain Shigemoto's Mother (1949-50, tr. 1994). (The Columbia Encyclopedia).

*Kawabata Yasunari 川端康成 (1899-1972): Son of a highly-cultivated physician, Kawabata was born in 1899 in Osaka. After the early death of his parents he was raised in the country by his maternal grandfather and attended the Japanese public school. From 1920 to 1924, Kawabata studied at the Tokyo Imperial University, where he received his degree. He was one of the founders of the publication Bungei Jidai, the medium of a new movement in modern Japanese literature. Kawabata made his debut as a writer with the short story, Izu dancer, published in 1927. After several distinguished works, the novel Snow Country in 1937 secured Kawabata's position as one of the leading authors in Japan. In 1949, the publication of the serials Thousand Cranes and The Sound of the Mountain was commenced. He became a member of the Art Academy of Japan in 1953 and four years later he was appointed chairman of the P.E.N. Club of Japan. At several international congresses Kawabata was the Japanese delegate for this club. The Lake (1955), The Sleeping Beauty (1960) and The Old Capital (1962) belong to his later works, and of these novels, The Old Capital is the one that made the deepest impression in the author's native country and abroad. In 1959, Kawabata received the Goethe-medal in Frankfurt. (nobelprize.org) Seven Very Short Stories “Tanagokoro no shōsetsu” (published post-war, some written during and before war). “The Pomegranate” (unmarried girl w/ mother, bare tree w/ one pomegranate, boy goes off to war); “The Camellia” (immediately after war, rebirth, babies born in neighborhood, aging narrator); “The Plum”; “The Jay”;

*Yokomitsu Riichi 横光利一 (1898-1947): Novelist who, with Kawabata Yasunari, was one of the mainstays of the New Sensationalist school (Shinkankaku-ha) of Japanese writers, influenced by the avant-garde trends in European literature of the 1920s.Yokomitsu began writing while still at Waseda University, Tokyo, which he left without graduating. In 1923 he joined the playwright Kikuchi Kan's journal Bungei shunjū. In 1924 he joined Kawabata in publishing the journal Bungei jidai (both can be translated “Literary Age”). Yokomitsu’s story Atama narabi ni hara (“Heads and Bellies”), published there that year, was hailed as a new kind of writing. In opposition to the autobiographical legacy of naturalism and the social pleading of proletarian literature, Yokomitsu developed an aesthetic of sensual impressions presented in fresh, startling ways. Haru wa basha ni notte (1926; Spring Came on a Horse-Drawn Cart), dealing with his wife’s fatal illness, is a lyrical, sensitive story; Kikai (1930; Machine) shows his growing obsession with the idea of a mechanistic principle governing human behavior. Concerned always with the theory of writing, he put forth his ideas in Junsui shōsetsu ron (1935; “On the Pure Novel”). (Encyclopedia Brittanica) Junsui shōsetsuron (1935): I novel as pure fiction, calls for Gidean pure novel that mixes tsūzoku gūzensei with jiishiki 4th person technique. (Click here for Aozora Bunko texts.)

*Kishida Kunio 岸田國士 (1890-1954): Playwright and writer. One of founders of modern Japanese drama. Leading figure of interwar theater. father of Kishida Kyoko. (Click here for Aozora Bunko texts.)

*Ryūtanji Yū 龍胆寺雄 (1901-1992): Modernist writer. Widely read in his day, Ryūtanji exemplified the aspirations of nansensu literature. He was also the spokesperson for the New Art School (Shinkō geijutsu-ha), the coalition to which most authors engaged in this literary trend belonged. A former medical student with a lifelong interest in cacti, Ryumacrtanji had an eye for urban details. Ryumacrtanji's 'street nonsense', to borrow the title of his 1930 anthology, magnified common Tokyo spectacles to expose how the city shaped human subjectivity and cultural production. I explore how Ryumacrtanji used nansensu lightheartedly to critique places and practices that were becoming part of daily life, expose paradoxes underlying Japan's capitalist growth and parody the act of writing. Ryumacrtanji's career provides insights into the publishing industry of the time and his stories reveal the contradictions of urban modernity during a complex historical period. (Alisa Freedman, informaworld.com) Apa-to no onnatachi to watashi to (1928)

*Kojima Masajirō 小島政二郎 (1894-1994): Novelist, writer and critic. Born in Tokyo in 1894, Kojima became acquainted with Edo period literature and European authors from an early age, and was drawn to the works of Nagai Kafu and Mori Ogai. While attending Keio University, he contributed pieces to Mita Bungaku, the journal of the literature department. After submitting his graduation thesis in 1918, he turned to children’s literature, helping to edit Suzuki Miekichi’s magazine, Akai Tori (Red Bird), and writing tales himself. Kojima established himself in literary circles with "Ichimae Kanban," based on the life of a professional storyteller, and "Ie" (Family), the story of relatives who were forced out of their home. He later gained a reputation as a writer of popular fiction with such stories as "Midori no Kishi" (Green Knight), "Kaiso" (Seaweed), and "Hitozuma Tsubaki" (Tsubaki, a Married Woman). He also came to the attention of novelist and playwright Kikuchi Kan and Natsume Soseki with "Ganchu no Hito" (Centre of Attention). It was about the awakening to literature and also served as a history of Taisho period literary circles. After the Second World War he wrote "Taifu no Me no yo na" (Like the Eye of a Typhoon), (later retitled, Suzuki Miekichi), "Ogai, Kafu, Mantaro," about the three writers he respected, and "Encho." Kojima first moved to Kamakura in 1930 but returned to Tokyo shortly afterwards. He came back to Kamakura in 1944, and moved to Nikaido in 1964 where he lived till his death in 1994 at the age of 100. (city.kamakura.kanagawa.jp)

*Takami Jun 高見順 (1907-1967): Novelist and writer born in Fukui Prefecture. Attracted in his youth to the humanism espoused by the Shirakaba (White Birch) school, as a Tokyo University student he would later join a Left Wing arts alliance and contribute pieces to their journal (Sayoku Geijutsu). After graduation, he went to work for Columbia Records, while continuing to work as a proletarian writer. In 1932 he was arrested on suspicion of contravening the Peace Preservation Law and forced to recant his leftist ideology. In 1935 "Kokyu Wasureubeki" (Should Auld Acquaintance Be Forgot), a garrulous piece describing the agony of the conversion from Marxism, was short-listed for the first Akutagawa Prize. After that, he threw himself into his writing, gaining recognition for "Ikanaru Hoshi no Moto ni" (Beneath What Star), a story set in the Asakusa entertainment district, followed in quick succession by many other popular stories. After the war, he suffered from various ailments for ten years or so, but he managed to write poems from his sickbed, including an anthology, "Jumoko Ha" (Tree School). He also published, "Takami Jun Nikki," (The Diaries of Takami Jun), which described his experiences during the war and immediately afterwards. In his last years, he set to work on a series about the Showa period, "Gekiryu" (Violent Current), "Iya na Kanji" (A Disagreeable Feeling), and "Oinaru Te no Kage" (In the Shadow of a Large Hand), but died in 1965 at the age of 58, before its completion. (kamakura.kanagawa.city.jp) tenkō writer; tortured, tenkō in 1933; helps Takeda w/ jinmin bunko; Kokyū wasureubeki; byosha no ushiro ni nete irarenai (1936); deathbed poem Shi no fuchi yori (1965);

*Ishikawa Jun 石川淳 (1899-1987): Novelist from Tokyo. Made his literary debut with the idealistic short story Fugen (The Bodhisattva Fugen, 1936), which won the second Akutagawa Prize. After World War II, Ishikawa came to be regarded as one of the Shin Gesaku (New Frivolous Writing) school of writers. Other representative works are Yake-ato no Iesu (Jesus in the Cinders, 1946), ōgon densetsu (The Legend of Gold, 1946), Taka (The Hawk, 1953), Shifuku sennen (A Thousand Years of Happiness, 1966), and Kyōfūki (Account of the Wild Wind). (Mark Jewel, jlit.net)

*Dazai Osamu 太宰治 (1909-1948): Dazai Osamu, whose real name was Tsushima Shūji, was born in the town of Kanagi in Aomori Prefecture, where his father was an important landowner. Dazai was one of eleven children in a large extended family; his mother's weak constitution caused him to be placed in the care of an aunt whom Dazai for a long time assumed was his mother. He had excellent grades in primary school and junior high school, when he began to dream of becoming a writer. His high school years seem to have been less happy, but he and some friends put out a little magazine for which he regularly wrote stories. Dazai left for Tokyo in 1930 to study in the French Literature department at the University of Tokyo. He also took part in some relatively innocuous illegal activities on behalf of the Communist Party. Also in 1930, Dazai made the first of several attempts at a lovers' suicide (he had already made a solitary suicide attempt in 1929). In November of that year, he and a Ginza bar hostess tried to drown themselves in the ocean at Kamakura, but while the woman died Dazai was rescued by a fishing boat, leaving Dazai with a strong sense of guilt. In 1935, after being forced to leave Tokyo University and failing a test for employment, Dazai tried to hang himself, but this attempt also proved unsuccessful. In 1937, after Dazai's discovery that his wife had had previous lovers, they both took sleeping medicine, but neither one died. Given this personal turmoil, it is small wonder that suicide became a major motif in Dazai's novels. Stories written during this period include Dōke no hana (The Flowers of Buffoonery, 1935), Gyakkō (Against the Current, 1935), Kyōgen no kami (The God of Farce, 1936), and those published in his 1936 collection Bannen (Declining Years). In 1939, Dazai married Ishihara Michiko, to whom he was introduced by his mentor Ibuse Masuji, and entered a new period in his life. During this time, he freed himself from his self-appointed task of serving as a model of vice and achieved a harmony of sorts between his career as a writer and his real life. His collection Fugaku hyakkei (The Hundred Views of Fuji, 1939) was one major outcome. Wartime works included Udaijin Sanetomo (Minister of the Right Sanetomo, 1943), Tsugaru (1944), Pandora no hako (Pandora's Box, 1945-46), and the delightful Otogizōshi (Fairy Tales, 1945). After the war, Dazai wrote numerous stories set in the postwar milieu. Chief among these were Bion no tsuma (Villon's Wife, 1947), Shayō (The Setting Sun, 1947), and Dazai's last novel, Ningen shikkaku (No Longer Human, 1948). The postwar period was a dark time for Dazai, the central theme of his works seeming to become the need to pass judgment on the ugly side of the Japanese character and his own egoism. This led him back to suicidal thoughts, and on June 13, 1948, he finally succeeded in drowning himself in the Tamagawa Canal with yet another young woman, leaving behind an unfinished novel titled (in English) Goodbye. Dazai's career as a professional novelist thus spanned only the years from 1933 to 1948. Even so, his works continue to be enormously popular with young readers in particular, perhaps because of Dazai's overriding concern with the search for meaning in life and the nature of truth in human affairs. (Mark Jewel, jlit.net) (Click here for Aozora Bunko texts.)

*Itō Sei 伊藤整 (1905-1969): Novelist, poet, translator, professor of English, and literary and social critic. Shin shinrishugi bungaku essay in 1932. His novels Yūki no machi (1937) and Yūki no mura (1938) are noted for their psychological depictions of their characters. Translator of D.H. Lawrence and other modernist writers. His 1948 Shōsetsu no hōhō presents a theory on relationship between art and life, evoking myth of sincerity while defending the "uniquely Japanese" shishōsetsu from Nakamura Mitsuo's attack (though he does criticize the genre for its rejection of sociality). He also wrote a history of the Japanese bundan, titled Nihon bundanshi (1953-1973).

*Noma Hiroshi 野間宏 (1915-1991): Novelist who wrote Shinkū chitai (1952; Zone of Emptiness), which is considered to be one of the finest war novels produced after World War II. Noma was brought up to succeed his father as head priest of a Buddhist sect, but as a youth he was increasingly drawn to Marxist ideology. He became interested in French Symbolist poetry, showing strong influences of James Joyce, André Gide, and Marcel Proust, and before entering the University in 1935 he studied under the Symbolist poet Takeuchi Katsutarō. He graduated from Kyōto Imperial University in 1938 with a specialty in French literature and was heavily involved in the Kerun, the underground student movement, and the Kansai labor movement. During World War II he was drafted and sent to the Philippines and northern China but later was imprisoned (1943–44), on charges of subversive thought, in Ōsaka Military Prison. Noma attracted attention after the war with the novels Kurai e (1946; “Dark Painting”) and Kao no naka no akai tsuki (1947; A Red Moon in Her Face), both of which present a protagonist’s conflict between self-image and carnal desire. The novel Kurai e combined the techniques of Symbolism and the Proletarian Literature Movement, using stream-of-consciousness prose. Shinkū chitai conveys a broad view of the Japanese wartime army by tracing the parallel fate of two soldiers—a cultured middle-class idealist and a bewildered peasant youth. After 1950 Noma’s work employed more straightforward prose. In 1949 he published the first of a multivolume work completed in 1971, Seinen no waWaga tō wa soko ni tatsu (1961; “My Tower Stands There”), Shinran (1973), and Sayama saiban (1976; “The Sayama Trial”). These works, while conveying a deepening interest in Buddhism, also show Noma’s continued concern for social causes. He also wrote many critical essays, including discussions of André Gide and Jean-Paul Sartre. Noma joined the Communist Party in 1947 but was expelled in 1964. (Encyclopædia Britannica) (“Ring of Youth”), which won the Tanizaki Prize in 1971. Other later works include the autobiographical Kao no naka no akaitsuki (’47); calls for zentai shōsetsu;

*Kurahara Korehito 蔵原惟人 (1902-1991): Kurahara Korehito was the leading Marxist theoretician during the heyday of the Proletarian Art Movement in the late 1920s and early 1930s. Emerging as the “winner” from a series of famous theoretical disputes, it was Kurahara who came to define orthodox theory within the movement. It is safe to claim that it was Kurahara who set the agenda for much of the theoretical debate, both concerning organizational matters and artistic method. Yet, Kurahara was criticized, at the time as well as in retrospect, for precipitating the decline of the movement by subjecting proletarian art to direct political dictates. (Princeton.edu) Resisted during war; arrested in 1932; calls for Bolshevization of literature in 1930;

*Ōzaki Hotsumi 尾崎秀実 (1901-1944): Journalist. Asahi Shimbun columnist hanged from treason. Prison letters Love Is Like a Shower of Stars; Kurosawa film loosely based on his story. (Click here for Aozora Bunko texts.)

*Kobayashi Takiji 小林多喜二 (1903-1933): Proletarian Novelist. Born in Akita Prefecture. Graduate of Otaru Kosho (now Otaru University of Commerce). Takiji started writing when he was a student; he held great respect for Naoya Shiga. During his time with the Hokkaido Takushoku Bank, he was deeply into the trade union movement and socialism and was recognized as a proletariat writer for his work Kanikosen (The Crab Canning Boat) and Fuzai Jinushi (The Absent Landlord). He went to Tokyo after being fired from the bank, worked as the general secretary of the Japan Proletariat Writer’s League, and joined the Japanese Communist Party. On February 20, 1933, he was arrested for violating the Peace Prevention Law and was tortured and killed in Tsukiji Police Station the same day. (lib.city.minato.tokyo.jp) (Click here for Aozora Bunko texts.)

*Kawakami Hajime 河上肇 (1879-1946): Marxist economist. Born in Yamaguchi. He graduated from the Law Faculty of Tokyo University in 1902, and became an instructor of the practical course at the College of Agriculture of the Imperial University in the following year. After retiring from this post in December 1905, he joined the Shoshin Ito's Mugaen, but broke away the following February. He became an instructor of Kyoto University in 1908 and was promoted to assistant professor in 1909. Following study in Europe from 1913 to 1915, he became a doctor of jurisprudence in 1914, and was promoted to professor in 1915. His writings, "Binbo monogatari" (Tale of Poverty) was serialized in the Osaka Asahi Shinbun newspaper and created a public sensation. In 1928, he retired from Kyoto University. In 1932, he joined the Communist Party, and in 1933, he was arrested and stayed in prison until he was released in 1937. After that, he familiarized himself with Chinese poetry and wrote "Jijoden" (Autobiography). His representative works include "Shihonron nyumon" (Introduction to The Capital) (1928 to 1929) and "Keizaigaku Taiko" (Outlines of Political Economy) (1929). (National Diet Library) (Click here for Aozora Bunko texts.)

*Shimaki Kensaku 島木健作 (1903-1945): Proletarian novelist born in Hokkaido in 1903. He issued a literary coterie magazine "Kunugi no Mi (Acorn)" in 1918 and published tanka (short poems of 31 syllables) and essays under the pen name of Asakura Tengai. The next year he came up to Tokyo and continued to study, although hardly able to support himself, and contracted tuberculosis as a result of overwork. Although he entered Tohoku Imperial University in 1925, he soon left the university and joined the peasant movement. In 1927 he became an active member of the Japan Communist Party but the illness recurred. The next year he was arrested and prosecuted on suspicion of violation of the Peace Preservation Law. He was released in 1932 on account of fever and spitting up blood, after promising to convert. In 1934 he published his maiden work "Rai" (Leprosy) in the magazine Bungaku Hyoron (Literary Review), based on his experience during imprisonment, and received much recognition. Then he brought out "Momoku" (Blindness) in Chuo Koron (Central Review) and established his fame as a writer. These were followed in quick succession by other works, including "Goku" (Prison), "Reimei" (Dawn), "Saiken" (Reconstruction) and "Seikatsu no Tankyu" (The Quest for Life). He died in 1945 at the age of 41, after being forced to "tenko." (city.kamakura.kanagawa.jp)

*Sano Manabu 佐野学 (1892-1953): Marxist economist, founder of Japan's Communist Party. Famous tenkou case in 1933, from which the specific use of the word tenkou is said to originate. His nephew, Sano Seki, was a major figure in socialist theater.

*Ōta Mizuho 太田水穂 (1876-1955): Poet and scholar of Japanese literature. Born in Nagano Prefecture. While he was a student at the Nagano Normal School (now Shinshu University), he familiarized himself with classical verse collections such as the "Manyoshu" and "Kokinshu," and wrote poetry himself, which was published in the prestigious literary journal, Bungakukai. On graduation, he started to teach at the Matsumoto Higher Girls School. Around about this time, he founded a waka verse coterie, called Kono-hana Kai, with the poet and critic, Kubota Utsubo. The publication of waka anthologies "Tsuyukusa" (Day flower) in 1903 and "Sanjo Kojo" (On mountain, on lake) in 1906 with his schoolfriend Shimaki Akahiko brought Ota wide recognition. In 1908 he became a poetry adjudicator for the Shinano Mainichi newspaper. The following year he took up the position of professor of ethics at the Nippon Dental University in Tokyo. He married Shiga Mitsuko in 1910 and the two continued their creative activities while earning their living as teachers. In 1915, Ota began the tanka magazine, Cho-on, and gradually moved from creating his own verse to writing prodigiously about the theory of tanka and research of the classics. His waka anthologies include "Uncho" (Cloud bird), "Fuyuna" (Winter greenery), "Raden" (Mother-of-pearly inlay) and "Ryu-o" (Bush warbler). (city.kamakura.kanagawa.jp)

*Yamamoto Yūzō 山本有三 (1887-1974): playwright, novelist; robō no ishi; Novelist from Tochigi Prefecture; member along with Akutagawa Ryūnosuke of the coterie group that published the magazine Shin shichō (New Currents in Thought). As a playwright, he published Seimei no kanmuri (The Crown of Life, 1920), Eijigoroshi (Infanticide, 1920), and Dōshi no hitobito (Comrades, 1923). His novels include Nami (Waves, 1928), Onna no isshō (The Life of a Woman, 1932), Shinjitsu ichiro (The Truth Is the Only Thing I Need, 1935), and Robō no ishi (A Stone on the Wayside, 1937). His works in both categories deal with the theme of human beings searching for the meaning of life while caught in the conflict between reality and the ideal. (Mark Jewel, jlit.net)

*Takahashi Shinkichi 高橋新吉 (1901-1987): Poet. Takahashi was Japan's first dada poet from 1921 until 1926, the year he renounced dadaism for Zen.

*Tsuji Jun 辻潤 (1884-1944): Translator, thinker, translator, dadaist, and bohemian. Translated Max Stiner's The Ego and its Own. Married to radical feminist Itou Noe, who later left him for Ōsugi Sakae. (Click here for Aozora Bunko texts.)

*Kawaji Ryūkō 川路柳虹 (1888-1959): Critic. Ryūkō was the pen-name of a poet and literary critic in Showa-period Japan. Kawaji was born in Tokyo and was a graduate of the Japanese Painting School of the Tokyo School of the Arts (present day Tokyo National University of Fine Arts and Music). However, rather than to pursue a career as an artist, he chose to become a writer of free verse poetry instead. His poetry was influential, as it was among the first to be written in the modern Japanese language. He won the Japan Art Academy literary award in 1957 for his anthology Nami ("Waves"). (Spock.com) Wrote favorable reviews of dada poetry.

*Nakahara Chūya 中原中也 (1907-1937): Symbolist poet. Nakahara Chuya was born in Yamaguchi Prefecture in 1907 and he graduated from the Tokyo University of Foreign Studies. It is said that he first began to write poetry at the age of 8, on the death of one of his younger brothers. By the time he was in the upper grades of elementary school, he was sending tanka verse to newspaper poetry columns. In his early teens, he published his first collection (Sugurono) of verse with a friend. In 1923, he moved to the Ritsumeikan Middle School in Kyoto, where he was introduced to dadaist poetry. Two years later, he moved again, this time to Tokyo, where he met Kawakami Tetsutaro and Ooka Shohei, with whom he began publishing a poetry journal, Hakuchigun (Idiots). Beginning with "Samui yoru no jigazo," (Self portrait on a cold night), he published verses in quick succession, including a collection called, Yagi no uta (Poems of the goat). Also from around this time, he began contributing poems to the famous literary journals, Shiki (The Fours Seasons) and Bungakukai (The Literary World), and joined the coterie at Shiki and another journal, Rekitei (The Traveled Path), but was only really acknowledged by the critics Kobayashi Hideo and Kawakami Tetsutaro. He was never fortunate enough to be counted among the mainstream of poets, but his verses confessing the loneliness of the soul have a wide following even to this day, and he is a truly representative poet of the early Showa era. After losing his child in 1936, he suffered a nervous breakdown. Despite his ill health, he worked on his second collection of poems, Arishi hi no uta (Poems of bygone days) but died in 1937 at the age of 30, before seeing its publication. (city.kamakura.kanagawa.jp) (Click here for Aozora Bunko texts.)

*Takeuchi Katsutarō ( ):

*Hirai Ken'ichi ？:

*Satō Haruo 佐藤春夫 (1892-1964): Poet, novelist, and critic whose fiction is noted for its poetic vision and romantic imagination. Satō came from a family of physicians with scholarly and literary interests. He entered Keiō University in Tokyo to study with the novelist Nagai Kafū in 1910, but he had already joined the Myōjō group of poets revolving around Yosano Akiko and her husband, Tekkan, and he left Keiō without graduating. He began to attract attention with the short story “Supein inu no ie” (1917; “The House of a Spanish Dog,” 1961), a piece of fantasy with a dreamlike tone. The prose poems Den’en no yūutsu (1919; “Rural Melancholy”) and Tokai no yūutsu (1922; “Urban Melancholy”) established his style of lyrical world-weary self-reflection. Satō met the novelist Tanizaki Jun’ichirō in 1916, the beginning of a friendship that ended several years later when he became involved with Tanizaki’s wife. His first independent volume of poetry, Junjō shishū (1921; “Poems of Innocence”), was inspired by his sorrow at parting from her; but eventually they were married, in 1930. His main work of criticism is Taikutsu tokuhon (1926; “A Textbook of Boredom”). Akiko mandara (1954; “A Mandala for Akiko”) is a memorial to Yosano Akiko. (Encyclopædia Britannica) He studied under Choko Ikuta and Hiroshi Yosano and published his poems in Subaru and Mita Bungaku magazines. He hit the limelight with his novel Den’en no Yūtsu (Melancholy in the Countryside) in 1918, and his book of poems Junjo Shishu (Collection of Sentimental Verses) in 1921. He is also known to have served as a member of the screening committee of the Akutagawa Awards from its first presentation in 1960. He became a leading figure of the literary world in his later years and was reputed to have taught 3,000 students. (lib.city.minato.tokyo.jp) nonchalan; writes intro to Takahashi’s book of poetry; utsukushii machi (1919).

*Okakura Kakuzō (Tenshin) 岡倉覚三 （天心） (1863-1913): Okakura Tenshin, also known as Kakuzo Okakura, was a writer and art curator whose most famous work is The Book of Tea (1906). Okakura grew up in Yokohama, and his family's prosperity allowed him to study at the Tokyo Imperial University and to eventually earn a Masters in Arts degree in 1880. For years he worked collecting and writing about Japanese art and culture with Ernest Fenollosa, becoming a well-known critic of the trend toward westernization. In 1898 he was dismissed from his position at the Tokyo School of Fine Arts and lost government support, but he went on to found Nihon Bijutsuin (the Japan Art Institute). For financial support he travelled to the United States to sell artifacts and found an appreciative audience in Boston. He became a friend and advisor to art collector Isabella S. Gardner, and in 1904 began working at Boston's Museum of Fine Arts, later becoming curator of their Japanese and Chinese collections. An art expert who wrote his best known books in English, Okakura is credited with "explaining" Asian art to American intellectuals. His most famous works are The Ideals of the East (1903) and The Book of Tea. (who2.com). The Ideals of Japan (1903, in English); The Awakening of Japan (1904, in English); The Book of Tea (1906, in English). (Click here for Aozora Bunko texts.)

*Nagata Mikihiko 長田幹彦 (1887-1964): Scholar of Japanese literature, poet, playwright, and screenwriter. His brother was Nagata Hideo. His works include the semi-fictional novel about the 1923 quake Daichi wa furu (1923).

*Kume Kunitake 久米邦武 (1839-1931): Confucian scholar, embassy scribe, and historian in Meiji and Taisho Japan. Born in Saga Domain, Hizen (present-day Saga Prefecture), Kume was active in attempting to assist the administrative reform of Saga domain during the Bakumatsu period. After the Meiji Restoration, he was selected to join the Iwakura mission on its around-the-world voyage in 1871 as the private secretary to Iwakura Tomomi. After his return to Japan in 1878, he published the Tokumei Zenken Taishi Bei-O Kairan Jikki, a five-volume account of the journey, and of what he observed of the United States and Europe. Kume became a professor at Tokyo Imperial University in 1888, while contributing to Dai Nihon Hennenshi, an encyclopedic comprehensive history of Japan. He had a son, Kume Keiichiro, who was a noted painter. (js.amazines.com)

*Kōda Rohan 幸田露伴 (1867-1947): Novelist and essayist whose stories of heroic characters balanced the more romantic tendency of his rival, Ozaki Kōyō, in creating a new literature for early modern Japan.

Rohan’s early education was strong in the Japanese and Chinese classics, and although he was graduated from a technical school in 1884, before long he had turned to a writing career. “Fūryū Butsu” (1889; “The Elegant Buddha”), a poetic tale of mystic ideal love, brought him fame. Gojū no tō (1891–92; The Pagoda, 1909) deals with the single-minded devotion that enables a simple artisan to accomplish an extraordinary feat. Rohan’s aesthetic world emphasized strong will and the powers of imagination. Sora utsu nami (1903–05; “Waves Dashing against the Sky”), an uncompleted novel, showed a more realistic tendency. Rohan’s interest in history grew through the years, and his last major work, an annotation of the works of the haiku master Matsuo Bashō, was completed the year of his death. (Encyclopedia Brittanica) Involved in Taishō kyōyō shugi, seimeichūshin shugi (which begot modanizumu, anarchism, etc); Renkanki. (Click here for Aozora Bunko texts.)

*Abe Yoshishige 安倍能成 (1883-1966): An educator and liberal philosopher, Yoshishige Abe was born in Ehime Prefecture. While still a student at the Imperial University of Tokyo, he began publishing literary criticism. He became a professor at Hosei University in 1920 and in 1926 he took a position as professor at Keijo Imperial University in Seoul. He also served in such capacities as the Principal of Daiichi Senior High School in 1940. He entered the House of Peers after the war in December of 1945. The next year from January to May he was the Minister of Education in the Shidehara Cabinet where he worked on the reform of the education system. Following that, he became the Chairman of the Special Committee on Bill for Revision of the Imperial Constitution in the House of Peers. Until his death in October of the same year, he was President of Gakushuin University. (National Diet Library)

*Osanai Kaoru 小山内薫 (1881-1928): Playwright and stage director. Born in Hiroshima. He started to write plays while studying at the Tokyo Imperial University. After graduation in 1907, he published the "Shinshicho" (Series 1), where he introduced modern dramas from abroad. In 1909, he established the Jiyu Gekijo, imitating Western European style, together with Sadanji Ichikawa II. Until 1919, he presented new theater dramas (Shingeki) by translating Western European works. He also served as a councilor of the Ichimuraza and the president of the Shochiku Studio. In 1924, he established the Tsukiji Shogekijo (Tsukiji Little Theater), the first tangible theater of Shingeki, with Yoshi Hijikata and other members. Osanai played a central role in the movement for modern theater (shingeki). (ndl.go.jp) (Click here for Aozora Bunko texts.)

*Ino Kenji ？: Mainstream critic

*Okuno Takeo 奥野健男 (1926-1997): Postwar critic and historian. Penned famous essay in 1974 claiming the novel to be a female genre.

*Kaneko Fumiko 金子文子 (1903-1923): Radical female anarchist and feminist, arrested for plot to kill emperor. Kaneko was born to a former policeman and a laborer, and spent the first nine years of her life as an unregistered child. This status impeded Kaneko from receiving formal education and recognition in society. Still, Kaneko was able to attend classes thanks to the pleas of her mother. After Kaneko's mother failed to sell her daughter to a brothel, Kaneko was sent to her paternal grandmother's in Korea when she turned nine. A wealthy woman, Kaneko's grandmother registered Fumiko Kaneko as her own daughter and promised her a proper education. Kaneko was a cunning child interested in pursuing an education comparableto that of her male classmates. But Kaneko's grandmother disapproved of her granddaughter's attitude and promptly began abusing her. Kaneko's maternal family learned of this mistreatment and sent her back to Japan. (Allexperts.com) Hung self in jail cell; prison memoirs. (Click here for Aozora Bunko texts.)

*Kanno Suga 管野スガ (1881-1911): Political activist and feminist born in Osaka. Her mother died when she was ten, and her father remarried a woman who was the proverbial bad stepmother to Kanno. At fifteen, Kanno was raped. She became acquainted with socialism by reading an essay defending rape victims. At seventeen, she married into a merchant family in Tokyo to escape her stepmother. She did not return to Osaka until 1902 after her stepmother had left. Kanno began working at a newspaper and became involved in a Christian women's movement fighting the legal brothel system. When the Russo-Japanese War broke out, she joined the Christian-socialist peace movement. In 1906, she took over a newspaper in Wakayama Prefecture and began a common-law relationship with socialist Arahata Kanson (1887–1981). After moving to Tokyo, she attended a socialist-anarchist rally where prominent movement leaders were arrested in the Red Flag Incident of June 1908. When visiting her friends in prison she was arrested. After two months she was released and became acquainted with anarchist Kotoku Shusui (1871–1911). They started the publication of an anarchist journal, which was banned by authorities. Kanno was sent back to prison. While in prison, her involvement in a plot to assassinate the emperor was uncovered. With twenty-three others, Kanno was sentenced to death, and on 24 January 1911 she was hanged. (bookrags.com)

*Watsuji Tetsurō 和辻哲郎 (1889-1960): Moral philosopher and historian of ideas, outstanding among modern Japanese thinkers who have tried to combine the Eastern moral spirit with Western ethical ideas. He studied philosophy at Tokyo University and became professor of ethics at the universities of Kyōto (1931–34) and Tokyo (1934–49). His earliest writings include the two notable works A Study of Nietzsche (1913) and Søren Kierkegaard (1915), by which he paved the way for the introduction of existentialism into Japan decades later. Then he turned to the study of the spirit of ancient Japanese culture and of Japanese Buddhism, writing books and essays treating various aspects of Japanese culture. He extended his research farther afield, into early Buddhism in India and its subsequent developments. His major writings, however, belong in the field of ethics: Ethics as a Philosophy of Man (1934), Ethics, 3 vol. (1937–49), and History of Ethical Thought in Japan, 2 vol. (1952). Watsuji tried to create a systematic Japanese ethics using Western categories. In contrast to what he saw as Western ethics’ overemphasis on the private individual, Watsuji emphasized man both as an individual and as a social being who is deeply involved with his society. Watsuji introduced certain Buddhist dialectic elements in order to show how the individual is absorbed into society, and he cited various aspects of Japanese art and culture as expressing the interdependence of man and society. He developed his view of life as it applies to mutual personal and social relations, from the simplest to the fully integrated—from the family to the state. Only one of Watsuji’s works is available in English translation: A Climate: A Philosophical Study, translated by Geoffrey Bownas (1961, reprinted as Climate and Culture, 1988). (Encyclopædia Britannica) Student of Sōseki; Climate and Culture: A Philosophical Study (1936), Heidegger, environmental determinism, fascist; supports emperor system; ethic focus; Western and Japanese philosophy; Dōgen revival; Heidegger’s deshi; Kyōtogakuha influence; critic of west under Soseki’s influence; disintegration of the symbolic order; statist; Fūdo (Climate and Culture); friend of Soseki and Tanizaki; fascist during war. (Click here for Aozora Bunko texts.)

*Yanagita Kunio 柳田国男 (1875-1962): Scholar, poet, bureaucrat, founder of modern Japanese folklore studies. Born on July 31, 1875 to the Matsuoka family in Tsujikawa, Tawara Village, Jintō District, Hyōgō Prefecture, the sixth of eight brothers and sisters. His father Matsuoka Misao (otherwise known as Yakusai) was a proponent of National Learning (kokugaku) who had studied medicine and Confucianism and also served for a short time as a teacher. After studying agricultural administration at the Department of Political Science at the Faculty of Law of Tokyo Imperial University, Yanagita became a civil servant in the Department of Agriculture in June 1900, and then embarked on the path of a career bureaucrat. At the age of twenty-seven he became the adopted son of Supreme Court Justice Yanagita Naohira and changed his name to Yanagita Kunio. Three years later he married Taka, fourth daughter of the Yanagita family. In 1914 he was appointed chief clerk of the House of Peers, yet he resigned only five years later and thereafter entered into serious academic study. He served as an employee of the Asahi Shinbun newspaper and the Mandate Committee of the League of Nations. Yanagita authored many works on the folklore and popular religious beliefs of the Japanese people, and his scholarship can be classified into four periods: Period one: lyrical poet and agricultural bureaucrat (late Meiji era); Period two: inquiry into the traditions of mountain people and the assimilation of European folklore studies and ethnology (end of Meiji into the Taisho era); Period three: the formation of Japanese ethnology and the establishment of the Institute for the Study of Japanese Folklore, or the Minzokugaku Kenkyūjo (into the 1950s); Period four: research on the arrival of rice agriculture to the Japanese archipelago and the roots of the Japanese people, as exemplified by the study Kaijō no michi, or The Path over the Seas (postwar period). Yanagita died August 8, 1962, at the age of eighty-eight. His data collection and establishment of folklore studies methodology are widely known, yet his work with the greatest relevance to Shinto was mostly carried out in his third period. In order to identify a spiritual basis for the Japanese people in the postwar period, Yanagita composed three studies; Shintō to minzokugaku (Shinto and Japanese Folklore Studies), Nihon no matsuri (Festivals of Japan), and Senzo no hanashi (Tales of Our Ancestors). In Shinto and Japanese Folklore Studies, Yanagita wrote, "These are written with great care and dedicated as always with wishes for the providence from Suzu no Mori, the tutelary deity (ujigami) of my hometown, and from a humble Shinto scholar I greatly respect, none other than the spirit of my late father Matsuoka Yakusai." These and many other Yanagita works are collected in Teihon Yanagita Kunioshū (Standard Collection of the Works of Yanagita Kunio), in thirty-one volumes and five appendix volumes, published by Chikuma Shobō. (Encyclopedia of Shinto) folklorist, child prodigy. friend of Tayama Katai

*Orikuchi Shinobu 折口信夫 (1887-1953): Poet and moderately fascist scholar of folklore, Japanese literature and Shinto. Born to a merchant family in Kizumura Village, Nishinari District, Osaka, Orikuchi graduated in 1910 from Kokugakuin University. He worked for a while as a part-time teacher in Osaka before returning to Tokyo, where he met Yanagita Kunio (1875-1962) at a meeting of the Kyōdokai, a folk culture study group led by Inazo Nitobe (1862-1933). This encounter set him on his path to pursue folklore studies. At the age of thirty, Orikuchi completed a work entitled Kōyaku man'yōshū (The Oral Transmission of the Man'yōshū). In 1920 he was appointed permanent lecturer at Kokugakuin University, and the following year was made full professor. He also served as adjunct professor at Keio University from 1928. In the postwar period, Orikuchi taught introductory courses in Shinto at Kokugakuin University. Applying his observations to the meaning of Shinto as a religion, in particular regarding its nature in ancient times, he laid the foundations for a unique theory of Shinto. Terms such as marebito ("visiting kami") and tokoyo ("everlasting world") coined by Orikuchi have since come into common academic usage. Under his pen name, he produced works that reveal a personal academic style embodying a union of poetic intuition and scholarship. Orikuchi died May 3, 1953, at the age of sixty-seven. Beginning with his Kodai kenkyū (Studies of Ancient Times), his many theoretical and poetic works, including the song anthologies Umi yama no aida (Between the Mountains and the Sea) and Iwoguna, the poetry anthology Kodai kan'aishū (Sentiments of Love of Ancient Times) and the novel Shisha no sho (Writings of the Dead), can be found in his collected works Orikuchi Shinobu zenshū. (Encyclopedia of Shinto) (Click here for Aozora Bunko texts.)

*Takeuchi Yoshimi 竹内好 (1910-1977): Sinologist, leftist critic who later turned to the right. Takeuchi Yoshimi (1910-1977), was a noted scholar of Chinese literature and culture and a major leftist critic of Japan's postwar generation. His writings cover a vast range of subjects, extending from Lu Xun to China's controversial nuclear testing in 1964. The structure of his thinking is similar to that of Walter Benjamin in that they both reflect upon how to enter into history, how to establish the relationship between history and reality, while confronting the bloody violence of the twentieth century and pondering the fundamental issue of existence from a non-philosophical perspective. Like Benjamin, Takeuchi's philosophy of history is "anti-philosopical." (UCLA Asia Institute) What is modernity? (1948 essay). Kindai no choukoku essay in zenshuu. Nihon ideologi-; criticizes kindai no chōkoku seminar after war;

*Hayashi Fusao 林房雄 (1903-1975): Novelist and critic. Hayashi Fusao was born in 1903 in Oita Prefecture. His real name was Goto Toshio. He had an interest in political thought from his early days and he led a Marxist arts seminar with Shigeharu Nakano while a student of the Tokyo Imperial University. In 1926 the publication of his short story "Ringo" (Apple) in Bungei Sensen (Literary Battlefront) marked his beginnings as a proletarian writer. He was later imprisoned for his involvement in the Kyodai incident and on his release in 1932, he wrote "Seinen" (Youth). This was quickly followed by "Bungaku no Tame ni" (For Literature), "Sakka to shite" (As an artist) and others, denying the subordination of literature to politics. Hayashi joined Kobayashi Hideo to publish the journal Bungakukai (Literary World) in 1933. He wrote "Roman Shugisha no Techo" (Notes of a Romanticist) in 1935, declaring his estrangement from Marxism and in 1936, he renounced his connections with proletarian art. After the 2nd World War, he played an active part in promoting the genre of the "midway" novel and published "Musuko no Seishun" (My Son’s Youth) and "Tsuma no Seishun" (My Wife’s Youth) and many others, establishing himself as a popular writer. But in "Dai Toa Senso Kotei Ron," an apologia for Japanese militarism in the 2nd World War, he caused a fuss and revealed his new face as an ultra nationalist. (city.kamakura.kanagawa.jp) Marxist (arrested in 1932) turned Romantic-Fascist; minshū geijutsu, mass literature, entertainment! Daitōa sensō kōteiron in 1963;

*Koyama Iwao 小山巌 (？): one of four Kyoto school thinkers who participated in Chūōkōron roundtable discussion from 1941-1942 (others were Nishitani Keiji, Kosaka Masaaki, Suzuki Shigetaka).

*Morikawa Tatsuya (): literary historian

*Takahashi Hideo (): literary historian

*Tamiya Torahiko (): literary historian

*Hisamatsu Sen'ichi ():

*Kurata Hyakuzō 倉田百三 (1891-1943): Essayist, playwright, and author known for The Priest and His Apprentice, The Beginning of Love and Awareness, and other works. He was born in 1891 during the Meiji period as the eldest son of a dry goods store owner. The tracks of his lifetime of 52 years can also be considered the footprints of a philosophy pursuing how life should be lived. The thing that healed the pains or his sickness, withdrawal from school, lost love, and other setbacks is said to be Ueno Pond, his spiritual love. At the time, the Kurata family's cottage was located on the edge of Ueno Pond. There, he wrote many of his works. Today, the Shobara Suburban Cultural Center contains the Hyakuzo Kurata Literary Museum, where about 400 of Kurata's works and items are displayed and where remain birth, literary, and tanka poem monuments, as well as his grave. Other sites to see include the Hyakuzo Plaza, which displays his bust in commemoration of the l00th year since his birth; and the "Literature Alley." By retracing the places noted in connection with Hyakuzo, the visitor can catch a glimpse of how this literary magnate lived. (Allexperts.com) literary disciple of Nishida Kitarō; popular plays about Buddhism, Shinran; Priest and his Disciples. (Click here for Aozora Bunko texts.)

*Tsumura Hideo 津村秀夫 (1907-1985): film and culture critic; condemns Americanization of 1920s and early 1930s;

*Odagiri Hideo 小田切秀雄 (1916-2000): Literary critic and writer of shisōsetsu. Odagiri throughout his long life adopted a highly politicized approach to literature that stressed the importance of the relationship of literature to society at large. This philosophical conviction lay behind his role in founding the literary journal Kindai Bungaku (Modern Literature) along with Hirano Ken, Ara Masahito, and Haniya Yutaka, among others, and then establishing the Shin Nihon Bungakkai (New Society of Japanese Literature). He created the most recent commonly accepted label to be applied to any single generation of Japanese writers when he criticized the writers who emerged during Japan's high-growth years (including Kuroi Senji, Ogawa Kunio, and Furui Yoshikichi) as belonging to an "inward-oriented" generation (naikō no sedai). (Mark Jewel, jlit.net)

*Suzuki D.T. (Daisetsu) 鈴木大拙 (1877-1966): Buddhist scholar and thinker who was the chief interpreter of Zen Buddhism to the West. Suzuki studied at the University of Tokyo. Early in his youth he became a disciple of Sōen, a noted Zen master of the day, and under his guidance attained the experience of satori (sudden enlightenment), which remained of fundamental importance throughout his life. He stayed 13 years (1897–1909) in the United States, collaborating with Paul Carus as a magazine editor and pursuing his Buddhist studies on his own. He attracted interest by a translation, The Discourse on the Awakening of Faith in the Mahayana (1900), and the publication of Outline of Mahayana Buddhism (1907). The latter half of his life he spent in teaching, writing, and lecturing both in Japan and abroad, mostly in the United States, and contributed substantially to the understanding of Buddhism in Western countries. According to Suzuki, the basic characteristic of the Eastern mentality may be found in its emphasis on nonduality, while the Western spirit, as embodied in modern sciences, is based upon dualistic distinctions. Although this Western spirit is prerequisite to daily conduct, it fails to grasp the ultimate reality, which, in Suzuki’s philosophy, is an object of intuition or experience rather than of logical inquiry and must therefore be approached by religious experience of nonduality, especially as it is expressed in the tradition of Zen Buddhism. (Encyclopædia Britannica)

*Shaku Sōen 釈宗演 (1859-1919): Rinzai monk and New Buddhist ideologue associated with Suzuki's group. First Zen master to teach in the U.S.

*Tanabe Hajime 田辺元 (1885-1962): Philosopher of science who attempted to synthesize Buddhism, Christianity, Marxism, and scientific thought. He taught the philosophy of science at Tōhoku Imperial University in Sendai from 1913 and later at Kyōto Imperial University, where he succeeded the foremost modern Japanese philosopher, Nishida Kitarō. After studies at the universities of Berlin, Leipzig, and Freiburg (1922–24), Tanabe wrote his major early work, Sūri tetsugaku kenkyū (1925; “A Study of the Philosophy of Mathematics”), which made him the leading Japanese philosopher of science. In the late 1920s and into the 1930s, he developed “the logic of the species”—the “species” signified the nation as a historical mediating force between the individual and mankind. Tanabe departed from Nishida’s “logic of field,” which was thought to emphasize the individual to the detriment of the historical aspect of humanity. Tanabe’s Shu no ronri no benshōhō (1947; “Dialectic of the Logic of the Species”) was published in the midst of the post-World War II turmoil. Works on Tanabe’s syncretic approach to Christian love and Buddhistic “nothingness” include Jitsuzon to ai to jissen (1946; “Existence, Love, and Praxis”) and Kirisutokyō no benshōhō (1948; “The Dialectic of Christianity”). In the postwar years,Tanabe developed his philosophy of metanoetics, which proposed that the only way to transcend noetics (speculative philosophy on the subjective aspect or content of experience) is to undergo a complete metanoia in the death-and-rebirth phenomenon of conversion. (Encyclopædia Britannica) Took up seimeishugi in Taisho.

*Miki Kiyoshi 三木清 (1897-1945): Marxist philosopher who helped establish the theoretical basis for the noncommunist democratic-socialist movement popular among workers and intellectuals in Japan after World War II. After graduating from Kyōto Imperial University, Miki studied in Germany and then returned to Japan, where in 1927 he became a professor of philosophy at Hosei University in Tokyo. In 1928 he launched the influential review Shinkō kagaku no hata no moto ni (“Under the Flag of the Rising Science”) to promote Marxist socialism, and over the next several years he wrote a series of books, all designed to show Marxism as the inevitably prevailing philosophy. He also began to gain a tremendous following. Miki’s liberal attempts at synthesizing democracy and socialism, however, brought his expulsion (1930) from the communist circle of the Proletariat Science Institute. Ironically, the same year, he was arrested by the government as a communist supporter and held for six months. Returning to the university, he opposed the increasing power of the military, but in 1942 he was drafted by the army press to work in the Philippines for a year. By the end of his tour of duty, his opposition to the government had grown more muted; nevertheless, this did not prevent his being arrested again in 1945 for having sheltered a communist. He died in Toyotama Prison 40 days after the war ended. (Encyclopædia Britannica) central member of "left wing of Kyoto school" along with Tosaka Jun. (Click here for Aozora Bunko texts.)

*Yasuda Yojūrō 安田与重郎 (1910-1981): Ultranationalist and founder of the Nihon roman-ha group in 1935.

*Inoue Tetsujirō 井上哲次郎 (1855-1944): Kantian philosopher, poetry reformer. Born in Fukuoka. In 1880, he graduated from the Department of Philosophy at Tokyo University. In 1882, he became an associate professor at Tokyo University. In the same year, he published a joint poetry book "Shintaishisho" (A Selection of New Style Verse). He became a pioneer of the Shintaishi movement. In 1884, he went to Germany for study. After returning to Japan in 1890, he was appointed professor and gave lectures on German idealism and philosophy until his retirement in 1923. Also, he denounced Christianity from the standpoint of nationalism and advocated national morality. Inoue focused his energy on studying Japanese Confucianism in his last years. (National Diet Library) (Click here for Aozora Bunko texts.)

*Nishida Tenkō 西田天香 (1872-1968): Religious thinker and founder of Ittoen group in Kyoto in 1911. (Mushanokoji's Utsukushiki machi followed in 1918.) Also involved in Kyoto philosophers' group.

*Maruyama Masao 丸山眞男 (1914-1996): Political scientist and philosopher, writer, hibakusha and educator (b. March 22, 1914, Osaka, Japan--d. Aug. 15, 1996, Tokyo, Japan), as one of Japan’s leading political thinkers, helped shape Japanese politics and thought following World War II. Maruyama, the son of a political journalist, graduated from the Tokyo Imperial University in 1937 and became a faculty member there. In 1944 he was drafted into the army, and at the war’s conclusion he returned to the university. In 1950 he was made full professor, a position he held until his retirement in 1971. In his writings and teachings, Maruyama analyzed the social aspects and ideology of Japan and examined their impact on the country’s political system. An outspoken critic of the Establishment, he wrote extensively on the Japanese government, arguing that the country’s postwar democracy was actually fascism in disguise. In his seminal work, Chokokka shugi no ronri to shinri (1946; "The Logic and Psychology of Ultranationalism"), Maruyama examined the psychological underpinnings of Japan’s antidemocratic organizations and sparked controversy with his criticism of a system that had an emperor as head of state. Maruyama was praised for his ability to apply abstract concepts to actual events, and his writings, noted for their eloquence and clarity, were required reading for students of Japan’s modernization. His work inspired the student antigovernment demonstrations in the 1960s, though Maruyama denounced the violence of the protests, claiming that his ideas had been misinterpreted. In 1982 he was made a member of the Japan Academy. (Encyclopædia Britannica) sees Shishōsetsu as evidence of Japan's failed project of modernity; Nihon no shisō (1961, Sorai, Chu Hsi school), shingakumonron zadankai (1947); nihon seiji shisōshi kenkyū (1952); see Search for Autonomy in.; attacks nikutai no bungaku (we never had dualism! Shirking of political/artistic responsibilities); writings on Japanese fascism; Studies in the intellectual history of tokugawa japan;

*Nakamura Akira 中村粲 (1934- ): Historian and scholar of English literature. One of leading postwar thinkers. Nationalist.

*Nakano Yoshio 中野好夫 (1903-1985): Leading postwar thinker and scholar of English literature.

*Minami Hiroshi (): Historian. Shisō no kagaku kenkyūkai member; Taishō Bunka (1965; argues that term "bunka" first used in Taishō)

*Oda Makoto 小田実 (1932-2007): Intellectual and peace activist. A graduate of Tokyo University, Oda won a Fulbright scholarship to study at Harvard in 1958. He later co-founded (along with Tsurumi Shunsuke and Kaikou Takeshi) the Beheiren anti-Vietnam war movement. Oda Makoto is known in contemporary Japanese society as a prolific novelist, fierce social critic and controversial political activist. After travelling extensively throughout America and East Asia Oda's seminal travel narratives broke Japanese postwar isolationism and reinvented the postwar conceptualisation of the journey. As one of the intellectual founding fathers of the Beheiren movement Oda was an outspoken social critic in the 1960s and 1970s whose legacy of civil disobedience is currently more valid than ever before. He is author of the best-selling works Nandemo mite yaro (1961), Hiroshima (1981), and Gyokusai (1991). (Roman Rosenbaum, Ingentaconnect.com)

*Kaneko Mitsuharu 金子光晴 (1895-1975): Prominent poet. Mitsuharu Kaneko was arguably the only poet in Japan who continued to write anti-war poems during the Second World War. He was largely outsider to Japanese society, spending many years abroad and, more importantly, retaining the eyes and mind of an exile even after returning home. Furthermore, Kaneko was exceptionally intellectual for a Japanese poet, although his vast knowledge of classical Chinese and Western literature was usually concealed by his unpretentious, down-to-earth style. Finally, he loved women – probably even more than he loved poetry – and many of his poems, as well as his paintings, are charged with erotic love. But perhaps most unique of all is the fact that these distinctive traits fitted together so naturally in him, without any sign of contradiction. (Poetry International Web)

*Katsumoto Seiichirō (1899-1967): Scholar of Japanese literature. His books include a study of Shimazaki Tōson.

*Tokuda Takeshi 徳田武 (1944): Scholar of Japanese literature with specialty in Edo literature.

*Konishi Jin’ishi 小西甚一 (1915-2007): Literary historian and scholar of Japanese and comparative literature. Konishi was a major influence on the first generation of foreign scholars of Japanese literature, and authored A History of Japanese Literature (1953; translation 1984-1991), among other important works.

*Haga Tōru 芳賀徹 (1931- ): Haga Tōru is President and Professor of Comparative Literature and Culture at the Kyoto University of Art and Design and Professor Emeritus of the University of Tokyo and International Research Center for Japanese Studies. He was born in 1931 in Yamagata City, Japan, and educated at the University of Tokyo in French (B.A.) and comparative literature and culture. (M.A. and Ph.D.). President Haga has received many honors, among them the Suntory Letters and Sciences Prize, Osaragi Jiro Prize, Meiji-mura Prize, and Purple Ribbon Medal. In addition to his work in Japan, President Haga was a visiting research associate at Princeton University (1965-67) and a fellow at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars (1975-76). His Western publications include: Continuité et avant-garde au Japon (1961); Cent ans d'etudes françaises au Japon (1973); "The Formation of Realism in Meiji Painting: The Artistic Career or Takahasi Yuichi" (1971); "The Western World and Japan in the 18th Century" (1978), and "The Diplomatic Background of Japonisme: The Case of Sir Rutherford Alcock" (1980). President Haga's Japanese publications include: Collective Essays in Comparative Literature and Art (1981); The Small World of Yosano Buson (1986); The Crossroad of Cultures (1989); The Sky of Yesterday (1992); and Land of Poetry, Land of Poets (1997). (loc.gov)

*Karaki Junzō 唐木順三 (1904-1980): Critic born in Nagano Prefecture; a graduate of the Department of Philosophy, Kyoto University. He studied under Nishida Kitarō. Karaki wrote Gendai Nihon bungaku josetsu (An Introduction to Modern Japanese Literature, 1932) as a way of dealing with the suicide of Akutagawa Ryūnosuke. Other major works include Ōgai no seishin (Ōgai’s Spirit, 1955) and Chūsei no bungaku (Medieval Literature, 1955). His last book was Kagakusha no shakaiteki-sekinin ni tsuite no oboegaki (A Memorandum on the Social Responsibility of Scientists, 1980). (Mark Jewel, jlit.net)

*Ishimoda (?): Leader of the postwar national awakening movement.

*Lu Xun (Rojin) 魯迅 (1881-1936): Chinese writer, commonly considered the greatest in 20th-century Chinese literature, who was also an important critic known for his sharp and unique essays on the historical traditions and modern conditions of China. Born to a family that was traditional, wealthy, and esteemed (his grandfather had been a government official in Beijing), Lu Xun had a happy childhood. In 1893, however, his grandfather was sentenced to prison for examination fraud, and his father became bedridden. The family’s reputation declined, and they were treated with disdain by their community and relatives. This experience is thought to have had a great influence on his writing, which was marked by sensitivity and pessimism. Lu Xun left his hometown in 1899 and attended a mining school in Nanjing; there he developed an interest in Darwin’s theory of evolution, which became an important influence in his work. Chinese intellectuals of the time understood Darwin’s theory to encourage the struggle for social reform, to privilege the new and fresh over the old and traditional. In 1902 he traveled to Japan to study Japanese and medical science, and while there he became a supporter of the Chinese revolutionaries who gathered there. In 1903 he began to write articles for radical magazines edited by Chinese students in Japan. In 1905 he entered an arranged marriage against his will. In 1909 he published, with his younger brother Zhou Zuoren, a two-volume translation of 19th-century European stories, in the hope that it would inspire readers to revolution, but the project failed to attract interest. Disillusioned, Lu Xun returned to China later that year. (Encyclopedia Britannica) (Click here for Aozora Bunko texts.)

*Takeyama Michio 竹山道雄 (1903-1984): critic and scholar of German literature, was born in Osaka in 1903. In his early years, he moved frequently due to his father’s job as a bank employee. From the age of four to ten he lived in Seoul. Upon graduation from the German Literature Department of Tokyo Imperial University (now Tokyo University), Takeyama became an instructor at the First Higher School in Tokyo. The following year, the Ministry of Education sent him to Europe where he studied for three years. After returning home, Takeyama taught German in the First Higher School, this time as a professor. It was during this time that he translated works of German literature, among them Goethe’s "An Anthology," Nietzsche’s "Thus Spake Zarathustra," and "Out of My Life and Thought: An Autobiography" by Albert Schweitzer. After the Second World War, Takeyama became widely known for his novel, "Biruma no Tategoto" (The Harp of Burma), which was serialized in Akatombo, a children’s magazine. In 1951 he resigned his teaching position and devoted himself to literary criticism, publishing "Showa no Seishin-shi" (A psychological history of the Showa Era) and "Ningen ni Tsuite" (On Human Beings). In 1957, he helped run the Nihon Bunka (Cultural) Forum. In 1959, Takeyama created Jiyu (Freedom), a literary magazine, and together with the novelist Hirabayashi Taiko, served as associate editor. His works "Koto Henreki: Nara" (Pilgrimage to the ancient capital, Nara), and "Nihonjin to Bi" (The Japanese and Beauty) combine his broad and deep understanding of the classic arts of Japan and his sensitivity to European literature. He also wrote travelogues, including "Yoroppa no Tabi" (Travels in Europe) and "Maboroshi to Shinjitsu: Watashi no Sobieto Kembun" (Fantasy and Truth: My Observations of the Soviet Union), in which he analyzed Western civilization. (kamakura.kanagawa.city.jp)

*Ichiki Kitohirō (？): Intellectual credited with development the theory known as Tennō kikan setsu.

*Ogawa Mimei 小川未明 (1882-1961): Novelist, vitalist, and the father of Japanese fairytale literature (Japan's answer to Hans Christian Andersen). Mimei was born in 1882, in Takada, Kubiki County, Niigata Prefecture and lived there until he went to junior high school. His fairytales all reflect a romanticism and a love of the somewhat unforgiving natural environment of the area. He is known as the Father of Japanese of Japanese fairytale literature, and as Japan's answer to Hans Christian Andersen. One of his most famous tales is "The Mermaid and the Red Candles" (city.joetsu.niigata.jp)

*Kajii Motojirō 梶井基次郎 (1901-1932): Novelist born in Osaka who wove the distress of illness and the fervent wish for recovery into a memorable series of short stories and other works of poetic prose. As a student at the Third High School in Osaka, he became friends with Nakatani Takao and Iijima Tadashi, and developed an interest in literature through reading the works of Natsume Sōseki and Tanizaki Jun’ichirō. Kajii developed symptoms of tuberculosis in 1920, the year after entering the school, and thereafter he was never free of the disease, which was already fairly advanced by the time he entered the English department of Tokyo University in 1924. In the summer of that year, he visited his sister in Matsuzaka, Mie Prefecture, the natural beauty of which impressed him greatly, as did the kindness of the local residents. This experience became the basis for Kajii’s story Shiro no aru machi nite (In a Castle Town), which appeared in 1925 in a coterie magazine called Aozora (Blue Sky) that Kajii started with Nakatani Takao and Tonomura Shigeru. Remon (Lemon) and Rojō (On the Road) were both also published in Aozora in the same year. In 1927, Kajii moved to the Yugashima hot-spring district in Izu for the purpose of recuperation, and there struck up a friendship with Kawabata Yasunari. After publishing Fuyu no hi (A Winter’s Day) in 1928, Kajii moved back to Tokyo and wrote Fuyu no hae (Winter Flies, 1928). With his tuberculosis worsening, Kajii returned to Osaka, where he continued to write such stories as Yami no emaki (A Picture Scroll in the Darkness, 1930), Kōbi (Copulation, 1931), and Nonki na kanja (An Optimistic Patient, 1932). The last of these in particular seemed to indicate the attainment of an attitude free from the fear of death, but death nevertheless claimed Kajii in March 1932, shortly after he had reached the age of 31. (Mark Jewel, jlit.net) calls own works shinkyōshōsetsu; symbolist realism. (Click here for Aozora Bunko texts.)

*Miyoshi Tatsuji 三好達治 (1900-1964): Free verse poet. Born in Osaka. While he was still at high school, he became interested in the works of Nietzsche and Turgenev, and under the influence of the poet Maruyama Kaoru, he began to compose his own verse. While studying French literature at Tokyo Imperial University, he joined Kajii Motojiro (short-story writer) and Nakatani Takao in bringing out the coterie magazine, Aozora (Blue Skies), where he published poems such as "Ubaguruma" (Pram) and "Ishi no ue" (On Stone) to favorable acclaim. He came to the attention of Hagiwara Sakutaro, and joined him in founding the critical journal, Shi to Shiron (Poetry and Poetic Theory) in 1928. There, he published his own verse and translations, including a full translation, in 1929, of Baudelaire's collection of prose verse, Le Spleen de Paris. In 1930, Miyoshi brought out his first volume of free verse, Sokuryo sen (The Surveying Ship). The intellectual lyricism of his work and use of expressions reminiscent of classical verse established his name as a poet. In 1934 he brought out the second series of the coterie journal Shiki (The Four Seasons) with Hori Tatsuo and Maruyama Kaoru, and became a central figure in the running of the magazine. Besides anthologies such as Nansoshu (From a southern window) and Rakuda no kobu ni matagatte (On a camel's hump), he wrote appreciations of verse, Fuei junikagetsu and Takujo no hana (Flowers on a table), a collection of essays, Yoru tantan, and a critique of fellow poet, Hagiwara Sakutaro. (kamakura.kanagawa.city.jp) blamed emperor for war;

*Anzai Fuyue 安西冬衛 (1898-1965): Poet from Nara Prefecture. Lost his right arm to gangrene while working in Dalian, China. He subsequently became a member of the coterie that produced the magazine Shi to shiron (Poetry and Poetics), and published anthologies titled Gunkan Mari (The Battleship Mari, 1929) and Ajia no kanko (The Asian Salt Lake, 1933). Both works are characterized by a structure based on a nonrealistic associative process; Anzai liked to refer to himself as a man who "tamed the demon of analogy." He returned to Japan in 1934 and published Dattan kaikyō to chō (Butterflies and the Mongolian Strait, 1947) and Zaseru tōgyūshi (The Sitting Matador, 1949).(Mark Jewel, jlit.net)

*Hagiwara Sakutarō 萩原朔太郎 (1886-1942): Poet. Considered the father of free verse in Japanese. The son of a prosperous physician, Hagiwara enjoyed a sheltered and indulged childhood. At age 15 he discovered literature and began writing classical verse, which he submitted to literary magazines. He refused to become a doctor, which precluded him from inheriting the hospital his father had founded. He left college without graduating, turned to studying mandolin and guitar, and spent time in Tokyo. At 18 he had become infatuated with a woman who would later appear throughout his work as “Elena,” but her family frowned on Hagiwara’s failure to finish college and secure regular employment, and she eventually married a doctor. Hagiwara’s arranged marriage in 1919 produced two daughters, and he moved permanently with his family to Tokyo in 1925. His wife deserted him four years later. Hagiwara’s style developed slowly; support from his father throughout his life relieved him of financial worries and enabled him to work at his own pace. By 1913 Hagiwara had abandoned classical metrical schemes for free verse. In 1916 he cofounded a poetry magazine with the poet Murō Saisei, and a year later Hagiwara self-published his first book of poetry, Tsuki ni hoeru (Howling at the Moon), which irreversibly transformed modern Japanese verse. Hagiwara contended that “psychic terror” distinguished his work, and the first poem of the collection describes the nightmare of being buried alive. In his second poetry collection, Aoneko (1923; “Blue Cat”), Hagiwara presented himself as a cheerless and tormented man thirsting for affection. These two collections established his reputation as a poet. His difficult style was not immediately understood, although one of the leaders of the Japanese literary world, the novelist Mori Ōgai, was impressed by his mode of expression. Hagiwara’s last collection of free verse, Hyōtō (1934; “Isle of Ice”), explores his sense of having never been accepted; its first poem concludes, “Your home shall be no place!” Prose poems appear in Shukumei (1939; “Fate”), which critiques the smothering of individuality by group life. Hagiwara also published a collection of aphorisms, Atarashiki yokujo (1922; “Fresh Passions”), which expresses his sensual philosophy, and several collections of essays. Hagiwara focused on intimate glooms, never on the charms of nature or the transience of beauty. With its reliance on self-exploration and its confession of vulgar secrets using the vernacular, Hagiwara’s poetry represented a revolutionary trend in 20th-century Japanese literature. (Encyclopædia Britannica) (Click here for Aozora Bunko texts.)

*Nishiwaki Junzaburō 西脇順三郎 (1894-1982): Poet born in Niigata Prefecture in 1894. He went to Tokyo intending to be a painter, but abandoned the idea and instead entered Keio University. He became interested in the poetry of Baudelaire and Rimbaud, and started writing his own poems under the influence of Hagiwara Sakutarō’s Tsuki ni hoeru (Howling at the Moon, 1917). Later he studied abroad at Oxford University, where he was directly exposed to the current of modernism in British literature. After returning to Japan, he became a professor at Keio University and published criticism in the journal Shi to shiron (Poetry and Poetics). His main works include Ambarvalia (1933), and Tabibito kaerazu (No Return for the Traveler, 1947). (Mark Jewel, jlit.net)

*Fukazawa Shichirō 深沢七郎 (1914-1987): His first novel, The Ballad of Narayama (楢山節考, Narayama bushiko?) won the Chūōkōron Prize, and was twice made into a movie script: first by Keisuke Kinoshita in 1958, and again by Shōhei Imamura in 1983. Imamura's film won the Cannes Film Festival Palme d'Or. In 1960, Chūōkōron published his satire Furyu mutan (“The Story of a Dream of Courtly Elegance"). In it the narrator dreams that leftists take over the Imperial Palace and behead Crown Prince Akihito and Princess Michiko before an enthusiastic crowd. This story provoked fury in the Imperial Household Agency and among Japanese ultra-nationalists. On February 1, 1961, a seventeen-year-old rightist broke into the home of Chūōkōron's president, Shimanaka Hoji, killed a maid with a sword, and severely wounded Shimanaka's wife in response to the story. Fukazawa went into hiding and was little seen in public afterwards. In 1981 he won the Tanizaki prize for Michinoku no ningyotachi. (ranker.com)

*Niwa Fumio 丹羽文雄 (1904-2005): Prolific novelist and leading Showa literary figure known for his popular and religious novels. Many of Niwa’s early works included the erotic fantasies Ayu (1932; “Sweet-fish”) and Zeiniku (1933; “Superfluous Flesh”), while his later pieces featured Buddhist themes. He sensationalized post-World War II Japan with Iyagarase no nenrei (1947; “The Hateful Age”), a novel critical of the Japanese tradition of venerating the elderly. His self-financed magazine Bungakusha featured young writers. From 1966 to 1972 he served as president of the Japan Writers Association. (Encyclopædia Britannica) fūzoku shōsetsu;

*Tani Jōji 谷譲次 (or Hayashi Fubō 林不忘, or Hasegawa Kaitarō 長谷川海太郎) (1900-1935): Hayashi Fubo, Maki Itsuma and Tani Joji are all pen names for the novelist and translator whose real name was Hasegawa Umitaro. Born in Niigata Prefecture in 1900, he left Hakodate Junior High School in 1917 and moved to Tokyo. The next year he went alone to the United States, where he engaged in various occupations such as cook and campus worker to support his studies at university. After his return to Japan in 1924, he joined a group devoted to detective literature, led by Matsumoto Yasushi. There he became acquainted with Morishita Uson, who was the chief editor of the magazine, Shin-seinen (New Youth). On Morishita’s recommendation, he began writing a series called "Meriken Jappu" (American Jap) for Shin-seinen. Using three pen names, he was able to act as three different writers, each with a unique personality. He caused a sensation by his sheer brilliance as a versatile writer of fiction, non-fiction, translations and adaptations. As novelist Hayashi Fubo, he created "Tange Sazen," a one-eyed, one-armed super swordsman. And as Maki Itsuma, he pioneered the field of true life mysteries with works like "Yokuso no hanayome" (The bride in a bathtub). In his "Meriken Jappu" series, which he wrote under the Tani Joji pseudonym, he displayed a keen understanding of cosmopolitan life, based on his experience in the United States. He introduced a fresh wind into Japanese modernism literature. This superhuman writer died, however, in 1935 at the age of 35. (city.kamakura.kanagawa.jp) (Click here for Aozora Bunko texts.)

*Abe Tomoji 阿部知二 (1903-1973) Novelist, modernist and leftitst. He had a strong background in English literature. His major works include his debut work, Nichi-Doku taiko kyogi ("The Japan-Germany Athletic Games”; 1930) and Fuyu no yado (A Place to Winter, 1936). Abe also helped found the leftist magazine Kōdō.

*Inagaki Taruho 稻垣足穗 (1900-1977): Taruho made his literary debut by submitting "Tsuki no sanbun-shi" (Prose poems about the moon) to the Second Futurist Art Exhibition. This early work, which consists of several short, linked works about the surreal happenings of style, anticipates many of his later collections of short, linked works, which defy simple classification as either poetry or prose. (One of his best known works in this style, Issen ichibyô monogatari [One thousand and one second stories] from 1923, is now considered a classic of Japanese surrealism. In a 1924 issue of Shinchô [New tide], Taruho published "Watashi no tanbishugi" [My aestheticism], a statement that explains the aesthetic vision behind these works and that outlines one possible direction for the burgeoning Japanese modernist movement.) He advocates a style of momentary transience and fairy-tale-like fantasy while, in dandyesque fashion, celebrating the chic—a category that covered fashionable consumer products as well as astronomical entities. (Jeffrey Angles, aasianst.com)

*Inagaki Tatsurō 稲垣達郎 (1901-1986): Showa critic. His works include the essays "Shishōsetsu" and "Shishōsetsu to shōsetsu janru," as well as the books Natsume Soseki (1952) and Mori Ogai no rekishi shōsetsu (1989).

*Katsuyama Isao (？): kokungakusha; Gunma daigaku;

*Yumeno Kyūsaku 夢野久作 (1889-1936): Writer and detective novelist best known for his works that deal with the grotesque and the absurd. His most significant work is the highly surreal novel Dogura Magura (1925), which was later adapted into a film. Other works include Binzume jigoku and . . . (Click here for Aozora Bunko texts.)

*Kosugi Tengai 小杉天外 (1865-1952): Writer considered to be the founder of the naturalism movement in modern Japanese literature. Kosugi was born in Akita Prefecture. He moved to Tokyo in 1886 to attend the English Law College, but soon dropped out to devote himself to writing full time. He associated himself briefly with Mori Ogai and Ozaki Koyo before becoming a disciple of literary critic and satirical author Saito Ryokuu. He was hired by the literary magazine Shincho gekkan in 1897, but was transferred by the magazine to the newspaperHochi Shimbun. He published his first novel, Hatsusugata, a story about a geisha and her relationship with men from different social strata in 1900. He followed with a sequel, Hayariuta, in 1902, which was one of his most successful works. Tengai attempted to write in a realistic and objective manner, which was considered rather revolutionary for the time. In the forward to Hatsusugata, he commented that he "seeks to move the reader not by the unusual, but by what is normal and average." Influenced by Zola and other French authors, Tengai was often compared to his contemporary, Nagai Kafu, although he has been criticized for having two-dimensional characters who meet predictable fates based on family or environmental situations. Tengai was elected to the Japan Arts Academy in 1948. In his later years, he also turned towards the genre of historical fiction. (answers.com)

*Nagai Kafū 永井荷風 (1879-1959): Novelist, playwright, essayist, and diarist. His works are noted for their depictions of life in early 20th-century Tokyo, especially among geisha, prostitutes, cabaret dancers, and other denizens of the city's lively entertainment districts. Among his major works are: American Stories (Amerika Monogatari, 1908), Geisha in Rivalry (Ude Kurabe, 1916-1917), A Strange Tale from East of the River (Bokuto� Kitan, 1937), and his diaries, especially Danch�tei Nichijo� (1917-1959). (Allexperts.com) (Click here for Aozora Bunko texts.)

*Itō Keiichi 伊藤桂一 (1917- ): Novelist, writer, and poet best known for his works that deal with his own war experiences in China, including Hotaru no kawa (1961) and Rakujitsu no senjou (1965).

*Honma Hisao 本間久雄 (1886-1981): Critic and scholar of English and Japanese literature who taught at Waseda University.

*Akutagawa Ryūnosuke 芥川龍之介 (1892-1927): Novelist. Born in Tokyo. He published "Hana" (The Nose) in 1916 while studying at the Tokyo Imperial University and the start of his literary career was highly regarded by Natsume Soseki. After graduation, he taught English as a part-time instructor at the Naval Engineering College and published "Imogayu" (Yam Gruel) (1916), "Hokyonin no shi" (Death of a Christian) (1918), and "Rashomon" (1917), his first short story. After resigning from the Naval Engineering College in 1919, he went full-time into literary activity as a staff writer for the Osaka Mainichi Shinbun. In 1927, he committed suicide at the age of 36. He was the father of Hiroshi Akutagawa and Yasushi Akutagawa. (National Diet Library). Death marks shift from bourgeouis shinkyō shōsetsu. (Click here for Aozora Bunko texts.)

*Ozaki Kazuo 尾崎一雄 (1899-1983): Writer. mushi no iroiro (1948); other shinkyōshōsetsu that flourished during war years

*Shiina Rinzō 椎名麟三 (1911-1973): Postwar shishōsetsu novelist. Shiina was born in the village of Sosamura, Hyōgo Prefecture, where he grew up after spending a short period in Osaka. A leftwing activist before the Second World War, he renounced communism in the 1930s after being arrested and took an interest in Dostoevsky. He eventually converted to Christianity after the war, finding in it an affirmation of life that reflected the reverse image of his own feelings of despair. Shiina's style can be said to reflect an existential concern with the pursuit of freedom. His novels include Shin'ya no shuen (A Midnight Feast, 1947), Baishakunin (The Go-Between, 1962), Eien naru joshō, (The Eternal Prologue,1948), and Jiyū no kanata de (Beyond Freedom, 1954). (Mark Jewel, jlit.net) Poor, advocates shutaisei.

*Nitobe Inazō 新渡戸稲造 (1862-1933): Educator, internationalist, liberal, cultural interpreter, Quaker and civil servant. Born in Iwate as the son of a samurai of the Morioka Clan. He graduated from the Sapporo Agricultural College in 1881. In 1884, he left Tokyo University before graduation and went to study in the United States, where he became a Quaker. After returning to Japan in 1891, he successively held important posts as Professor of the Sapporo Agricultural College, Professor of the Tokyo Imperial University, and the first President of Tokyo Women's Christian University. One of his especially notable contributions was education based on the principal of personalism, which he implemented during his tenure as president at the First Higher School from 1906 to 1913. He was a typical cosmopolitan of the day and served as Under-Secretary General of the League of Nations from 1919 to 1926, and later as the chairman of the Japan Council of the Institute of Pacific Relations. In 1927, Nitobe was elected as a member of the House of Peers. He was a Doctor of Agriculture and a Doctor of Jurisprudence. He is famous for writing "Bushido; the Soul of Japan" (1900). (ndl.co.jp) opposed the fascists;UNESCO (forerunner) founding director and League of Nations undersecretary general. (Click here for Aozora Bunko texts.)

*Uchimura Kanzō 内村鑑三 (1861-1930): Christian thinker. Thinker and practitioner of religion. Born in Tokyo, the son of a samurai of the Takasaki Clan. After graduating from Sapporo Agricultural College, he worked for the Agriculture and Commerce Ministry, etc., and then went to study in the United States. After returning to Japan in 1890, he became a part-time teacher at the First Higher Middle School. In 1891, he left the school because he was accused of refusing to worship the emperor in the unveiling ceremony for the Imperial Rescript on Education. After that, he engaged in writing. In 1900, based on his Bible studies, he founded "Seisho no kenkyu" (Biblical Studies), where he advocated Mukyokai or Nonchurch Christianity that does not depend on existing denominations. During the Russo-Japanese War, he spoke out against the war. His main works include "Nihon oyobi Nihonjin" (Japan and the Japanese) (1894, later known as "Daihyoteki nihonjin" (Representative Men of Japan)), and "Yo wa Ikanishite Kirisuto Shinto to Narishika" (How I Became a Christian) (1895). (National Diet Library) How I Became A Christian (1895, in English). (Click here for Aozora Bunko texts.)

*Umezaki Haruo 梅崎春生 (1915-1965): Postwar shishōsetsu novelist born in Fukuoka Prefecture; a graduate of Tokyo University. His experience in the Japanese navy formed the basis for such early works as Sakurajima (1946) and Hi no hate (The End of the Day, 1947). Umezaki excelled in depicting human psychology with a light touch, as is evident in the stories Boroya no shunjū (Seasons Spent in a Ramshackle House, 1954), Kuruidako (The Crazy Kite, 1963), and Genka (Hallucinations, 1965). (Mark Jewel, jlit.net)

*Shibusawa Tatsuhiko 澁澤龍彦 (1928-1987): Scholar of French literature, critic and novelist. As a student of the school of French literature at the University of Tokyo, he became an enthusiastic advocate of surrealism, the vanguard art movement that had started in France after World War I. He was especially attracted to Andre Breton, a central figure of the movement. This led him eventually to learn of the Marquis de Sade’s existence and gave him a clear indication of the direction he should now take. After translating Jean Cocteau’s "Le Grand Ecart" in 1954, he began to introduce French literature to Japanese readers through his translations. In 1959, he published a translation of Sade’s "L’Histoire de Juliette; ou, Les Prosperites du vice," which dealt a blow to his translation work because of an obscenity charge. He continued, however, to introduce Sade’s writing, as well as making active contributions to other areas through his essays, art criticism and studies of medieval demonology. He also broke new ground in fiction in 1981 with the publication of a fantasy, "Karakusa Monogatari" (Karakusa story). Other novels include "Utsuro Bune" (Hollow ship) and "Takaoka Shinno Kokai-ki" (Prince Takaoka’s sailing records).

*Fukuda Tsuneari 福田恆存 (1912-1994): Playwright, critic and translator. Fukuda majored in English at the University of Tokyo, and in the 1950s emerged as a highly intelligent playwright. In 1956 he translated and directed Hamlet, which captivated audiences with its speed and energy. His translations of Shakespeare are noted for the attention to the dynamism of Shakespearian language. (Oxford Companion to Shakespeare) DH Lawrence-inspired essay Kindai no kokufuku (1947).

*Kaneko Chikusui 金子筑水 (1870-1937): Critic and Waseda professor. The first use of the word kindaishugi is attributed to him in his Kindaishugi no eigen (1911). His concept of modanizumu was subsequently popularized in early Shōwa. His works include Kindai shisōkai no sūsei (1906). (Click here for Aozora Bunko texts.)

*Endō Shūsaku 遠藤周作 (1923-1996): Novelist of "daisan no shinjin" generation. Endo's aunt had him baptized as a Catholic when he was 10 years old, and the experience became the main impulse behind his writing throughout his life. He entered the French department of Keio University, where he wrote critical works like Kattorittuku sakka no mondai (On Being a Catholic Writer, 1947), turning to the writing of fiction after a three-year period of study abroad in France from 1950-53. His Shiroi hito (White Man) received the 33rd Akutagawa Prize in 1955. Endō explored the relationship between Christianity and the Japanese in such subsequent works as Umi to dokuyaku (The Sea and Poison, 1957), ChinmokuFukai kawa (Deep River, 1993). Under the pen name Korian Sanjin, he wrote a series of playful works with the word gūtara (idle, lazy) in the title that are assumed to have functioned as a kind of mask for his serious inner side. Other works include Shikai no hotori (By the Dead Sea, 1973), Iesu no shōgai (The Life of Jesus, 1973), Samurai (1983), Skyandaru (Scandal, 1986), and Onna (A Woman, 1995). (Mark Jewel, jlit.net) (Silence, 1966) daisan no shinjin; born in Tokyo; raised from 1926-33 in Dalien, China.

*Kojima Nobuo 小島信夫 (1915-2006): Novelist of "daisan no shinjin" generation. Kojima chronicled the dramatic post-World War II transformation that occurred in Japanese society, notably the changes that occurred in the household relationship between daughter-in-law and mother-in-law, and in 1966 won the inaugural Tanizaki Prize for the novel Hoyo kazoku (1965; “Embracing Family”). Other works of note included the short story “Amerikan sukuru” (1955; “American School”), winner of the Akutagawa Prize; Watakushi no sakka hyoden (1972; “My Critiques on Writers”), recipient that year of the Minister of Education Award for Art; Wakareru riyu (1982; “Reason for Parting”); and his last, Zanko (2006; “Fading Light”), an account of his wife’s illness. (Encyclopædia Britannica).

*Yasuoka Shōtarō 安岡章太郎 (1920- ): Novelist of "daisan no shinjin" generation. Shotaro Yasuoka was born in Kochi Prefecture, Japan in 1920. The son of a veterinary corpsman in the Imperial Army, his early life involved frequent moves from one military post to another. After the war, Yasuoka came down with spinal caries, and with no chance for treatment without money, took on a series of odd jobs. It was while he was bedridden with this disease that he began his writing carreer. A leading figure in postwar Japanese literature, in 2001 Yasuoka received the Cultural Merit Award for his literary achievement. His works include Garasu no kutsu (1951), Aigan (1952),Inkina Tanoshimi (1953), and Warui nakama (1953). (Japanische Botschaft in der Schweiz)

*Yoshiyuki Junnosuke 吉行 淳之介 (1924-1994): Novelist born in Okayama Prefecture as the first son of Yoshiyuki Eisuke, a writer of the Shinkō Geijutsu (New Art) School. In 1945, he enrolled in the department of English literature at Tokyo University, working at part-time jobs to support himself. As a student he became absorbed in poetry and helped publish a coterie magazines. Opposed to the ideologically centered literature being written during the Second World War, Yoshiyuki kept his distance from the writers who came to be known as the Postwar School (Sengo-ha). In 1955, he received the Akutagawa Prize for Shūu (Downpour), which deals with the psychological problems faced by a young man attempting to make a clear distinction between the emotions of love and pleasure. This marked Yoshiyuki’s emergence as a professional novelist, and he was soon classified as one of the “Third Wave” of new writers (Dai-san no shinjin) who turned their attention to the portrayal of the ordinary individual in everyday life. Subsequent works include Shōfu no heya (A Prostitute’s Room, 1958), Suna no ue no shokubutsugun (Vegetation on the Sand, 1963), Hoshi to tsuki wa ten no ana (The Stars and the Moon Are Holes in the Sky, 1966), and Anshitsushishōsetsu) carried out with a penetrating yet delicate sensibility that results in remembered images of great clarity. Additional works include Honoo no naka (In the Flames, 1974), Yami no naka no sairei (Festival in the Dark, 1961), Shindai no fune (The Bed-Frame Boat, 1977), Kaban no nakami (The Contents of My Briefcase, 1974), and Yūgure made (Until Nightfall, 1978). (Mark Jewel, jlit.net) (The Dark Room, 1969). These works all depict human sexuality in a way that makes it seem almost indistinguishable from death. Yoshiyuki’s style can be described as a experimental restructuring of the traditional Japanese I-novel. daisan no shinjin; shishōsetu (misunderstood as coming from naturalism—really comes from Western ich roman); shōfu no heya, 1958.

*Isobe Tadamasu (): mujō no kōzō ();

*Chiba Kameo 千葉亀雄 (1878-1935): Journalist, literary critic, and editor. Coined term Shinkankakuha to refer to writers centered around Bungei Jidai magazine (1924-7), a period which he sees as the "birth of literary modernism"; Shinkankakuha no tanjo (1924 essay). (Click here for Aozora Bunko texts.)

*Shōno Junzō 庄野潤三 (1921-2009): Novelist born in Osaka whose father was the founder of Tezukayaka Gakuin high school. As a middle school student he was taught Japanese by the poet Itō Shizuo. He entered the department of oriental history at Kyushū University, where he came under the influence of the older Shimao Toshio. While working first as a schoolteacher and then with a broadcasting company, Shōno published such stories as Yuki Hotaru (Snow and Fireflies, 1943), Butō (Dance, 1950), and Aibu (The Embrace, 1953). He associated with Yoshiyuki Junnosuke and Yasuoka Shōtarō and was regarded as one of the early postwar Dai-san no shinjin, (“third generation of newcomers”). In 1955 he received the Akutagawa Prize for Pūrusaido shōkei (Poolside Scenes, 1954). A Rockefeller grant took him to Kenyon College, Ohio, in 1957, after which he quit his job to concentrate on writing. The 1959 Ganbia taizaiki (Diary of a Stay in Gambier), now considered one of his most representative works, was based on his experiences in the United States. The 1960 novel Seibutsu (Still Life) won the Shinchōsha Prize, Yūbe no kumo (Yesterday Evening’s Clouds) received the Yomiuri Prize for Literature in 1966, and Eawase (The Picture-Matching Contest) took the Noma Prize for Literature in 1971. Subsequent major works include Sōshūn (Early Spring, 1982) and Sekirei (Sadness, 1998). Shōno is admired for his ability to portray family life in a manner that is poignant yet understated. (Mark Jewel, jlit.net) 1955 akutagawa-sho. Shishōsetsu. Yūbe no kumo (’64-5)

*Kikuchi Kan 菊池寛 (1888-1948): Playwright, novelist, and founder of one of the major publishing companies in Japan. As a student at the First Higher School in Tokyo, Kikuchi became acquainted with the future novelists Akutagawa Ryūnosuke and Kume Masao. Later, while attending Kyōto Imperial University, he worked with them on the literary magazine Shinshicho (“New Currents of Thought”). His story “Mumei sakka no nikki” (1918; “Diary of an Unknown Writer”) reveals frankly his envy of the success of his former classmates. Although a prolific writer, he wrote much of his best work in the short period between 1917 and 1920. Kikuchi’s writing shows little speculative thought; he was more concerned with the direct exposition of a particular moralistic theme, expressed in a realistic and clear style. Another story, “Tadanaokyo gyōjō ki” (1918; “On the Conduct of Lord Tadanao”), attracted great attention. His other well-known works are the plays Chichi kaeru (1917; The Father Returns) and Okujo no kyojin (1916; The Madman on the Roof) and the novel Shinju Fujin (1920; “Madame Pearl”). In 1923 Kikuchi established Bungei shunju, a popular literary magazine that gave rise to a large publishing company. Through the magazine he set up two of the most prestigious literary awards given to new Japanese writers, the Akutagawa and Naoki prizes. (Encyclopædia Britannica) misunderstood I-novel as part of Japanese tradition (actually from Ich roman). (Click here for Aozora Bunko texts.)

*Satomi Ton 里見弴 (1888-1983): Novelist Satomi Ton was born in Yokohama in 1888. His real name is Yamanouchi Hideo. Shortly after his birth, he was adopted by his mother’s family, Yamanouchi, but was brought up by his own parents. His older brothers are the writers Arishima Takeo and Arishima Ikuma. While at the Gakushuin High School, he and other literary-minded students circulated their pieces in a coterie magazine. He left Tokyo University before graduation and in 1910 became one of the founding members of the Shirakaba (White Birch) literary group with his brothers and other writers including Mushanokoji Saneatsu and Shiga Naoya, and this became a forum for their literary creations. Satomi became a pupil of Izumi Kyoka after coming to the attention of the older novelist. Satomi wrote prolifically throughout his lifetime. Among his best-known works are "Zen Shin Aku Shin" (Good Heart Evil Heart), "Tajo Busshin" (The Compassion of the Buddha), "Anjo Ke no Kyodai" (The Anjo Brothers), and "Gokuraku Tombo" (A Carefree Fellow). His works reveal all the pleasure-loving characteristics of the Shirakaba school with the added touch of sensitive psychological observations and realistic dialogue. He died in 1983 at the age of 94. (city.kamakura.kanagawa.jp)

*Nagai Tatsuo 永井龍男 (1904-): Novelist. After graduating from a Tokyo higher elementary school he had to give up all hope of further education due to his father's illness. At the age of 16, his first novel "Kappan-ya no Hanashi" (Tale of a Printer’s Shop) won a prize in a competition and gained high praise from the well-known author, playwright, and editor, Kikuchi Kan. With this success Nagai published the story, "Kuroi Gohan" (Black Rice) in Bungei Shunju, a monthly literary journal founded by Kikuchi Kan. In 1924, together with the critic Kobayashi Hideo, he launched Yamamayu, also a monthly literary magazine, through which he deepened his literary talent. In 1927, while continuing his creative activities, Nagai obtained an editorial position with the publisher of Bungei Shunju. During this time, he successfully launched a number of other magazines. He subsequently helped to lay the foundations for the Akutagawa and Naoki Prizes, created in 1935, and later became a member of the screening committee. It was because of these valuable contributions that Nagai came to be referred to as the "guardian" of the two literary prizes. Because of his wartime activity as a correspondent, Nagai was purged from public service after World War II, and he decided to concentrate on writing as a profession. He wrote a number of short novels, among them, "Mikan," "Ikko" (One), and "Aki" (Autumn), which earned him the sobriquet, "maestro of short stories." Nagai also wrote "Karenda no Yohaku" (Blanks on a Calendar), "Waga Kirinukicho yori (From My Scrapbook), and "Yugokoro" (Evening Heart), works he modestly referred to as "literary miscellany." Nagai is also known as a haiku poet under the name of Tomonkyo and demonstrated his wide literary talent as a selector of the haiku submitted to various magazines. He died in 1990 at the age of 86. (city.kamakura.kanagawa.jp) Ehon (1934). Aotsuyu, 1965. Aibiki kara, 1948.

*Naoki Sanjūgo 直木三十五 (1891-1934): Novelist Naoki Sanjugo was born in Osaka in 1891. His real name was Uemura Soichi. He attended the English Literature department of Waseda University in Tokyo but never graduated. Attempts to set up his own publishing business ended in failure and he returned to his native Osaka after the Great Kanto Earthquake of 1923. While working at the publishing house Platon (Plato) as an editor of the monthly magazine Kuraku (Joys and Sorrows), he began writing fiction. He later tried his hand at moviemaking but without any success, so he moved back to Tokyo in 1927 to concentrate on writing. Two years later, he had an historical novel, Yui Kongen Taisakki, serialized in a weekly magazine, and a newspaper serial, Nangoku Taiheiki, published the following year, brought him critical acclaim and established him firmly as a writer of popular fiction. As for Naoki's pen name, at the age of 31, he began writing critical articles under the name of Sanju-ichi (31), and with each succeeding year, he changed the name to match the year, until he settled for "Sanjugo" (35) in his 35th year. As well as period pieces such as Araki Mataemon and Odoriko Gyojoki, he also began writing biographies of historical figures, including Kusunoki Masashige, Ashikaga Takauji, and Genkuro Yoshitsune. Naoki also ventured into the realm of contemporary fiction, with Nihon no Senritsu (Japan Shudders), Hikari: Tsumi to Tomoni (Light: With Crime), and others. Naoki Sanjugo died in 1934 at the age of 43. The following year, on the suggestion of Kikuchi Kan (founder of the Bungei Shunju magazine), Naoki's name was given to an award for popular fiction, the Naoki Prize. Alongside the Akutagawa Prize for new writers, also established at the same time, the two prizes have become the most prestigious literary awards in Japan. (city.kamakura.kanagawa.jp) (Click here for Aozora Bunko texts.)

*Kaikō Takeshi 開高健 (1930-1989): Novelist. Underlying Kaikō’s literature is an appreciation for the vitality of everyday life that draws on two aspects of his own experience: a youth spent working at various part-time jobs due to his father’s death, and the desolation he witnessed at firsthand in the wake of World War II. After graduating from the law department of Osaka City University, Kaikō took a job with Kotobukiya (the present Suntory), where he worked in the public-relations department. In 1957 he published the short story Panikku (Panic) -- a satirical allegory comparing human beings to mice -- which created a sensation in the literary world thanks to the freshness of its conception and Kaikō’s technical skill. Hadaka no ōsama (The Emperor’s New Clothes), published in 1957, brought him the Akutagawa Prize. These early works, which took as their theme the role of the individual within the organization, were followed by several others that dealt with rather different subject matter, including Nihon sanmon opera (The Japanese Three-penny Opera, 1959) and Robinson no matsuei (The Descendents of Robinson, 1960). Another shift came when Kaikō started covering the Vietnam War as a reporter. The result was Kagayakeru yami (Darkness in Summer, 1968) and a number of works of reportage dealing with social conditions and the war itself. (Mark Jewel, jlit.net) Betonamu Senki (1965); Into a Black Sun (1968; compared to Greene’s Quiet American); Beheiren member;

*Katō Yoshiko ():

*Ōka Shohei 大岡昇平 (1909-88): Novelist and critic. He became familiar with literature from early childhood and learned French as a student of the old Seijo High School in Tokyo. Having the literary critic Kobayashi Hideo as his tutor, he became acquainted with the tanka poet Nakahara Chuya, the critic Kawakami Tetsutaro, and other literary figures. After graduating from the School of Literature at Kyoto University, Ooka got a job with the political tabloid, Kokumin Shimbun, but quit after one year to devote himself to the study of the French writer, Stendhal. In 1938 he was employed as a translator by a Franco-Japanese company in Kobe, and in his spare time, he began to translate the works of Stendhal. In 1944, he was drafted into the Imperial Army and sent to the front line at Mindoro Island in the Philippines. But in January the following year, he was captured by the American forces and sent to a prisoner of war camp on Leyte Island. He returned to Japan at the end of the year. On the recommendation of Kobayashi Hideo, he published "Furyoki," a calm and moderate account of his experiences as a prisoner of war. This won him the Yokomitsu Riichi Prize. From then on, he became a prolific writer and published such novels as "Musashino Fujin," "Nobi" (tr "Fires on the Plain," 1952) and "Hanakage." He also devoted himself to writing critical biographies of Nakahara Chuya and Tominaga Taro. In 1961, he showed the diversity of his skills by presenting his commonsense theory of literature. From 1967 to 69, he sifted through an enormous amount of data to write an account of the battle of Leyte (Reite Senki). Ooka died in 1988 at the age of 79, just as the Showa period was also drawing to a close. (city.kamakura.kanagawa.jp)

*Funabashi Seiichi 舟橋聖一 (1904-1976): Modernist novelist and playwright. Funabashi is best known for his works "Diving" (), . . .

*Ibuse Masuji 井伏鱒二 (1898-1993): Novelist noted for sharp but sympathetic short portraits of the foibles of ordinary people. Ibuse was first interested in poetry and painting but was encouraged to write fiction when he entered Waseda University in 1918. His greatest popularity came after World War II, but he was already known in the 1930s for such stories as the satiric Sanshōuo (1929; The Giant Salamander) and the historical novel Jon Manjiro hyōryūki (1937; John Manjiro, the Castaway: His Life and Adventures). Ibuse’s wide interests led him to deal with many kinds of themes, particularly intellectual fantasies employing animal allegories, historical fiction, and tales of country life. His sharp eye for satire and subtle sense of humor prevent his evident compassion from lapsing into sentimentality. After the war, Honjitsu kyūshin (1949; No Consultations Today), characterizing a town by the patients who come to the doctor’s office, and Yōhai taichō (1950; A Far-Worshiping Commander), an antimilitary satire, were especially well received. Ibuse received the Order of Culture for the novel Kuroi ame (1966; Black Rain), which deals with the terrible effects of the bombing of Hiroshima during World War II. (Encyclopædia Britannica)

*Takeda Taijun 武田泰淳 (1912-1976): Novelist active as one of the first post-war generation writers, and a noted authority on Chinese literature. Takeda was the second son of a Buddhist priest of the Pure Land Sect, and was raised in a temple. He developed an early interest in both Chinese literature and left-wing politics and, on graduating from high school, he chose to major in Sinology at Tokyo University in 1931. He did not complete his degree, for he withdrew from the university after being arrested for distributing leaflets critical of imperialism, which cost him a month’s imprisonment. However, it was there that he became acquainted with Yoshimi Takeuchi. He did not complete his degree (Allexperts.com) hikarigoke; mamushi no sue; China war experiences; Mamushi no sue (post-war Shanghai), 1947. Chinese influence, anti-imperialist. Igyō no mono (sex-obsessed priest), 1950. Hashi o kizuku, 1951 (narrator listens to Priest’s speech in Hibiya hall, recalls ancient Chinese story “Legend of the Priest’s Bridge” about a pious son, his widowed mother, and her forbidden love with a lust-ridden priest. Son builds bridge for two, and assists in penetrating mother with priest’s “hypodermic needle,” injecting sick mom with bad medicine. Compare story to “Igyō no mono” (misshapen ones).

*Oshiro Tatsuhiro 大城立裕 (1925- ): Okinawa novelist and playwright. He was awarded the Akutagawa Prize in 1967 for his novel The Cocktail Party (Kakutera Pati, 1967). Oshiro has also been an innovator of the traditional Ryukyua kumiodori. Two of his plays are Umino Tenzakai ("Celestial-sea Horizon") and Hingire, Niibichi ("Escape, Marriage"). (Domaintools.com)

*Ishikawa Tatsuzō 石川達三 (1905-1985): Novelist from Akita prefecture. He was the first writer to win the Akutagawa Prize, with Sōbō (The People, 1935). Military authorities banned his Ikite iru heitai (Living Soldiers, 1938). He dealt in powerfully direct fashion with Japanese social problems, producing masterpieces such as "Kaze ni soyogu ashi" (Reeds Bending in the Wind, 1951), Ningen no kabe (Wall of Humanity, 1957-59), and Kinkanshoku (Annular Eclipse, 1966). (Mark Jewel, jlit.net)

*Hirano Ken 平野謙 (1907-1978): Bungei hyōronka. Proletariat influences. Works include Geijutsu to jisseikatsu (1958; last "classic" shishōsetsu study), in which he points out that shishōsetsu are largely fictional. Shishōsetsu no niritsu haihan (shishōsetsu vs. shinkyō shōsetsu, on the differences). Destructive (Dazai) vs. constructive (Shiga) shishōsetsuka; Shōwabungaku-shi. Tōson autobio. Challenged junbungaku taishūbungaku distinction in essay "Junbungaku to taishūbungaku" published in Gunzō: impossible to distinguish between two, he claims, discussing the origins of terms, namely, Arishima Takeo's 1922 Sengen hitotsu, and later Yokomitsu's 1935 essay Junsui shōsetsuron, which calls for uniting of two to reach largest audience, and the three debates between 1922 and 1927: kikuchi kan (pro-content, ie, rather than only "art") vs. satomi ton. 1922. Hirotsu kazuo (pro-content) and ikuta chōkō 1924. akutagawa and tanizaki 1927. Junbungaku became I-novel for various historical reasons (pinnacle by 1935). [see Strecher's article "Purely mass or massively pure?"]; considers shishōsetsu to be "uniquely Japanese"

*Nakamura Mitsuo 中村光夫 (1911-1988): Critic, playwright, translator and novelist born in Tokyo. While still a student at Tokyo University, he was already submitting critical essays to the journal Bungakukai (The Literary World). His 1936 study of the novelist Futabatei Shimei received high recognition and was followed by other critiques of contemporary Japanese and Western writers, focusing on cultural comparisons. In 1938 he went to study in France on the invitation of the French Government, but was forced to return to Japan at the outbreak of the Second World War. After the war, he published "Fūzoku shōsetsuron" (1950), which developed from an ongoing feud with Niwa Fumio, a popular writer of the time. In it, Nakamura analyzed modern Japanese realism and made a scathing attack against the I-novel and the "fuzoku" novel which dealt with modern urban life. Other critiques include "Kindai e no Giwaku" (Suspicions about Modernity), and "The Legend of Futabatei Shimei." His two great critiques of modern Japanese literature are "Tanizaki Junichiro Ron" (in which he criticizes apolitical, non-ethical works) and "Shiga Naoya Ron" (1954). Among his plays are "Pari Hanjoki" (Prospering in Paris) and "Kiteki Issei" (Starting Whistle). He also wrote novels, including "Waga Sei no Hakusho" (Confessions of My Sexuality), "Nise no Guzo" (False Idols), and "Aru Ai" (A Certain Love). (city.kamakura.kanagawa.jp) Marxist leanings; harshly criticizes I-novel for lack of shakaisei in his Shishōsetsu ni tsuite (1935), a response to Kobayashi's "Watakushishōsetsuron" (?); participates in kindai no chokoku; kindai e no giwaku (1943?); confuses western and modern; Sakka no seishun (); Nihon no gendai shōsetsu (); Meiji bungakushi (1963);

*Kobayashi Hideo 小林秀雄 (1902-1983): One of the most influential critics in the Japanese cultural world. Kobayashi studied French literature at Tokyo Imperial University and graduated in 1927. In the early 1930s he was associated with the novelists Kawabata Yasunari and Yokomitsu Riichi on the journal Bungakukai (“The Literary Circle”); he became editor in 1935, after the arrest of its editor in the growing nationalist tide before World War II. At that time Kobayashi felt literature should be relevant to society, with literary critics practicing their social responsibilities. During the war he turned from modern literary criticism and social commentary to studies of Japanese classical art and later to music and philosophy. His major works include studies on Fyodor Dostoyevsky, W.A. Mozart, and Vincent van Gogh and on the Japanese literary genre of the shishōsetsu, the autobiographical novel. After the war, his literary criticism focused on the potential of the human spirit. (Encyclopædia Britannica) critic, anti-intellectual intuitivist and fascist. In 1935, he published "Watakushishōsetsuron," his critique of the shishōsetsu form.

*Niwa Fumio (): Popular writer. Engaged in feud with Nakamura Mitsuo about the value of shishōsetsu.

*Haniya Yutaka (1909-1997): Marxist writer and critic. Started postwar magazine Kindaibungaku. Wrote one novel, the modern classic Shiryō (Ghosts).

*Tateishi Haku: Critic. Ishikawa Jun ron; Hōsei kyōju;

*Jinzai Kiyoshi 神西清 (1903-1957): Novelist, translator (French and Russian) and critic. Born in Tokyo. While he was studying Russian at the Tokyo School of Foreign Studies, he began the coterie magazine, Hoki (Broom), with novelists Takeyama Michio and Hori Tatsuo, and contributed his own plays, poems and translations of foreign literature. After graduating, he tried out a series of jobs-at the Hokkaido University library, the Tokyo Denki Nippo paper, and the Soviet trade office-but in 1932, he decided to concentrate on his writing. He soon became well known for his fine introductions and translations of the works of the French writers Gide and Proust, and those of the Russian writers Pushkin, Turgenev and Chekhov. He also wrote his own novels, among them Tarumi, Hairo no me no onna (Girl with Grey Eyes) and Shonen (Boy). Jinzai had broad tastes, producing historical novels, critiques, verse, plays and translations of foreign literature. He remained a lifelong friend of the poet and novelist, Hori Tatsuo, and showed his understanding of Tatsuo's work by helping to compile his collected works and writing critiques. Jinzai was also deeply involved in the theater, anxious to create a contemporary theater with a living Japanese language. With the playwrights Kishida Kunio and Fukuda Tsuneari, he found the theater company, Kumo no kai (Clouds). Among his most noted translations are Chekhov's Uncle Vanya, the critical work, Shi to shōsetsu no aida (Between Verse and Fiction), and an anthology of poems. (city.kamakura.kanagawa.jp) Essay on Ishikawa and Valery. (Click here for Aozora Bunko texts.)

*Nakagami Kenji (1946-92): Prolific novelist whose writing was deeply influenced by his upbringing in a burakumin family. Nakagami was a rarity among modern Japanese writers in that he was not a college graduate, nor could he be described as an intellectual. Even more striking was his willingness to be identified with the burakumin, Japan’s traditional underclass, which has historically been discriminated against and sometimes considered to be less than human. He was also a member of the generation born after World War II. It was in these capacities that he wrote novels that were profoundly different from those of both older writers and his own generation. He did not hesitate to reveal that his mother was unmarried when he was born, that he barely knew his father, and that his elder brother, an alcoholic alienated from his family, committed suicide. In his fiction Nakagami often returned to the burakumin community where he grew up. The novel Misaki (1976; “The Cape”), which won the prestigious Akutagawa Prize, describes the extremely complicated relations within his family, including scenes of suicide, madness, and rape. The brutal strength of his narratives powerfully struck critics who had thought that the Japanese novel might die with Ōe Kenzaburō. Nakagami’s late works, such as Sanka (1990; “The Paean”), have been characterized as going beyond blunt realism to pornography. He died of cancer at age 46. (Encyclopædia Britannica) Ichiban hajime no dekigoto (1969); Misaki (1975); Kareki nada (1977)

*Ienaga Saburō (1913-2002): Japanese historian who waged a long-running battle with the Japanese Ministry of Education over his depiction in history textbooks of wartime atrocities committed by the Japanese. After having fought government censorship for more than three decades, Ienaga triumphed in a high-profile court case in 1997 when the Japanese Supreme Court ruled that the ministry had acted illegally when it suppressed descriptions in one textbook of the Japanese army’s biological warfare experiments in China during World War II. Aside from writing numerous history texts, he published a memoir, Japan’s Past, Japan’s Future: One Historian’s Odyssey, in 2001. He was also nominated for the 2001 Nobel Prize for Peace. (Encyclopædia Britannica).

*Abe Kōbō (1924-1993): Tomodachi, 1967 (play). undergrounds, homelessness, lost identies. Novelist born in Tokyo whose real name is sometimes given as Abe Kimifusa, although "Kōbō" is the reading found in the family register. Abe grew up in Shinyō (Hōten in Japanese), China, where his father was a doctor at the University of Manchuria Hospital. In 1943, he started medical school at Tokyo University, returning temporarily to Manchuria as World War II approached its end and losing his father to an outbreak of typhoid fever. This firsthand experience of the breakdown of traditional Japanese authority seems to have given rise to a feeling of skepticism out of which grew an overriding desire to find the meaning of human existence. Abe spent some time with his father’s family in Hokkaido before returning to Tokyo, ostensibly to resume his studies but also working as a peddler and forming friendships with Haniya Yutaka, Hanada Kiyoteru, and Noma Hiroshi. He published Mumei shishū (A Nameless Anthology, 1947) at his own expense while still technically a student and gave up medicine altogether as soon as he graduated in 1948, joining the group of writers affiliated with the magazine Kindai Bungaku (Modern Literature). Abe’s literary career can be said to have gotten its official start with the publication of Owarishi michi no shirube ni (The Marker at the End of the Road, 1948), which relies on surrealistic techniques to explore the reasons for human existence, as does the story Dendurokakariya (Dendrocacaria, 1949), which is about a man’s transformation into a plant. Abe gained critical attention with Akai mayu (The Red Cocoon, 1950), another story about human metamorphosis, and then won the Akutagawa Prize in 1951 for Kabe: S. Caruma-shi no hanzai (The Wall: Mr S. Carma’s Crime). Abe went on to achieve a worldwide reputation for such works as Dai-yon kanpyōki (Inter Ice Age 4, 1959), Ishi no me (Eyes of Stone, 1960), Suna no onna (The Woman in the Dunes, 1962), Tanin no kao (The Face of Another, 1964), and Moetsukita chizu (The Ruined Map, 1967). Further fictional studies of the sources of human anxiety include Hako otoko (The Box Man, 1973) and Hakobune Sakuramaru (The Ark Sakura, 1984). Abe also wrote such avant-garde plays as Tomodachi (Friends, 1967) and Doreigari (Slave Hunt, 1975), and he may perhaps be considered Japan’s first successful literary modernist, in some ways presaging the contemporary themes and attention-grabbing, non-traditionalist techniques of Murakami Haruki. (Mark Jewel, jlit.net)

*Edogawa Ranpo 江戸川乱歩 (1894-1965): Edogawa Rampo was the Edgar Allen Poe-inspired pseudonym of legendary Japanese author Taro Hirai. He was born on October 21, 1894 in Mie Prefecture and died of a cerebral hemorrhage on July 28, 1965. Rampo wrote many stories in which a detective named Kogoro Akechi investigated mysterious, often horrific crimes. (Nipponcinema.com)

*Mishima Yukio 三島由紀夫 (1925-1970): Novelist. An early novel, Confessions of a Mask (1949), is a semi-autobiographical study of homosexuality. His final work, the four-volume The Sea of Fertility (1965), is an epic of modern Japan. He committed ritual suicide at Tokyo's military headquarters, which he occupied with his small, private army. (World Encyclopedia) shi wo kaku shōnen, 1954; bunka bōeiron essay 1986 (anti-state nationalism, call for new bunkarinen, absolute values);

*Yoshimoto Takaaki 吉本隆明 (1924- ): Philosopher, literary critic, poet, and founder of magazine Shikō. Though certainly influenced by Marxism, particularly in his youth, after the war he advocated a populist "third-way" agenda that opposed both blocs of the Cold War.

*Konishi Jin'ichi 小西甚一 (1915-2007): Kokubungakusha. A history of Japanese literature (1984-1991).

*Hino Ashihei (1907-1960): novelist, corporal during war; novels based on war experiences; staunch believer in the war; Akutagawa prize in 1937 for Funnyōtan; war-promoting works Mugi to heitai, Tsuchi to heitai, Hana to heitai (1938-9); Youth and Mud (1949); “archetypal war writer” (Keene); suicide; Novelist born in Fukuoka Prefecture. Hino was awarded the Akutagawa Prize for Fun'nyō-tan (A Tale of Excrement, 1937) after being summoned for duty as a soldier in China. He was subsequently transferred to the military-press division and published "soldier stories" such as Mugi to heitai (Wheat and Soldiers, 1938). After World War II, Hino was "purged" for a while but continued writing sympathetically about the vitality of ordinary people's lives. Major works include Seishun to deineiSekidō-sai (The Equator Festival, 1951), Hana to ryū (Flowers and the Dragon, 1953), and Kakumei zengo (Around the Time of the Revolution, 1959). (Mark Jewel, jlit.net)

*Ozaki Shirō: war writer; dismissed as belonging to barren years;

*Oguma Eiji 小熊英二 (1962- ): Sociologist. Author of A Geneology of Japanese Self-Images

*Ōoka Makoto 大岡信 (1931- ): Poet and critic born in Shizuoka Prefecture. His father was also a poet, and he began to compose poetry under the influence of both his father and Kubota Utsubo. After graduating from the Japanese literature department of Tokyo University, Ōka joined the group associated with the journal Kai (Paddle) and also helped start the poetry magazine Wani (Crocodile). He published his first anthology, Kioku to genzai (Memory and the Present), in 1956. His many works of criticism include Chōgenjitsu to jojō (Surrealism and Lyricism, 1965), Tōji no kakei (The Background of a Profligate, 1969), Ki no Tsurayuki (1971), and Kotoba no chikara (The Power of Language, 1971). Since 1979 he has edited the popular Ori-ori no uta (Occasional Poems) series in the Asahi Shinbun. (Mark Jewel, jlit.net)

*Maruya Saiichi 丸谷才一 (1925- ): Novelist born in Yamagata Prefecture. His work is characterized by a supple philosophical approach based on a familiarity with both Japanese and Western classical traditions. His works include Sasa-makura (Bamboo Grass Pillow, 1966), Toshi no nokori (The Rest of the Year, 1968), Tatta hitori no hanran (A Singular Rebellion, 1972), Uragoe de utae: Kimi ga yo (Sing "Kimi ga yo" in Falsetto, 1982), and Onnazakari (A Woman at Her Peak, 1993). Criticism and essays include Go-Toba In (The Retired Emperor Go-Toba, 1973), Nihon bungakushi hayawakari (A Quick Guide to Japanese Literary History, 1976), Asobi jikan (Play Time, 1976) and Chūshingura to wa nani ka (What Is the Chūshingura?, 1984). (Mark Jewel, jlit.net)

*Abe Akira 安部彰 (1934- ): I-novelist. Abe was born in Hiroshima, where his father, a naval officer, was stationed, but spend the majority of his childhood in the seaside town of Kugenuma. He graduated from the University of Tokyo with a degree in French literature and worked for a broadcasting company until 1971, when he became a full time writer. His literary career began in 1962 with the publication of The Children's Room, (Kodomobeya), an emotional account of growing up with a mentally retarded older brother. Almost all of his stories are autobiographical and based on events from his own life and the lives of his family. His short story, Peaches, published in 1972, has appeared in several anthologies of short stories. Peaches is a beautiful, mystical tale that finds the author questioning the most fundamental source of his art——his memory. (answers.com) Momo, 1972.

*Nakamura Shinichirō 中村真一郎 (1918-1997): Author, poet, and critic. Nakamura's novel Natsu won the Tanizaki prize in 1978. His other works include a book on Rai Sanyō and another on Nagai Kafū, as well as the interwar novel Shi no kage no moto ni, which was attempt to do overcome realism. Nakamura also introduced Hermann Broch to Japanese readers.

*Kamei Katsuichirō 亀井勝一郎 (1907-1966): Prominent cultural and literary critic. Kamei was a Marxist under his arrest in 1928 with thousands of others. He was imprisoned for two years, and in 1933-4 he renounced Marxism and embraced nativism and subjectivity. In 1935, Kamei helped found the magazine Nihon roman ha. His major work of the period is Tenkeiki no bungaku (1934).

*Furui Yoshikichi 古井由吉 (1930-): Furui is a noted Japanese author and translator. Furui was born in Tokyo and educated at the University of Tokyo, where he majored in German literature and spent his summers hiking in the Japanese Alps. His undergraduate thesis was on Franz Kafka. In 1970 Furui resigned as assistant professor of German literature at Rikkyo University (Tokyo) to become a fulltime writer. In 1971 his novella Yoko (æ�³å­�) was awarded the Akutagawa Prize, and he has subsequently won both the Tanizaki Prize and Kawabata Prize. Furui has also translated Robert Musil and Hermann Broch. (Allexperts.com) “Introverted generation” writer (along with Oe). Kushi no hi, 1974.Tsumagomi, 1970.

*Furuhashi Nobuyoshi 古橋信孝 (1943- ): Kokubungakusha known for his writings on myth, imperial bloodlines, and incest.

*Azuma Hiroki 東浩紀 (1971- ): Philosopher, cultural critic, translator of Derrida and others. He began his writing inspired by Kojin Karatani's work. He is an associate of Takashi Murakami and the Superflat movement. He received his Ph.D. from the University of Tokyo in 1999 and is currently a professor at the International University of Japan. (Allexperts.com)

*Asada Akira 浅田彰 (1957- ): Leading postmodern critic and theorist. In his U.S. Structure and Power, Asada takes aim at political correctness in the U.S. In 1984, Asada began translating several of Derrida's major works.

*Morikawa Kaichirō 森川嘉一郎 (1971- ): Sociologist, designer, and professor of otaku studies. Morikawa taught at Waseda University's Advanced Research Institute for Science and Engineering before taking a position as visiting professor at Kuwasawa Design School. A critical theorist, he is the author of "Learning from Akihabara: The Birth of a Personapolis" (2003) and author and co-editor of "OTAKU: persona = space = city" (2004). Morikawa also served as commissioner of the Japanese pavilion at the Venice Biennale 9th International Architecture Exhibition in 2004. (international.ucla.edu)

*Shion Kono (1972- ): Sophia professor and translator of Azuma. Kono holds a Ph.D. from Princeton, where he wrote his dissertation on Mori Oogai and Virginia Woolf.

*Ikeuchi Osamu 池内紀 (1940- ): Essayist and scholar of German literature. Incidentally, he has written several articles on Ishikawa Jun's Edojin no hassōhō ni tsuite.

*Komori Yōichi 小森 陽一 (1953- ): One of the most creative and independent critics of Japanese Modern Literature. He spent 7 years of his childhood in Prague due to his diplomat father's mission. He is mostly known for his controversial approaches to Natsume Soseki and other major Japanese writers. Komori is currently professor at at the University of Tokyo. (Allexperts.com) participates in kokoro ronsō (about watashi and wife), in attempt to decanonize Kokoro as imperialist. (kokoro wo seisei suru ha-to, 1985); breaks away from kindai kokubungaku Romanticist studies; structuralist-narrative studies w/ Marxism; later deconstructionist;

*Miyoshi Yukio 三好行雄 (1926-1990): Todai kokubungakusha, perhaps best known for his debate with Komori Yōichi. He is the author of Tenbō: Kokunbungaku and Nihonbungaku on kindai to hankindai (1973). He also wrote several articles on the distinction between kindai and gendai.

*Tsukamoto Toshiaki 塚本俊明 (？): Kokubungakusha. Soseki essays.

*Yamada Shōji 山田奨治 (1963- ): Scholar, critic, and researcher at Nichibunken. He is perhaps best known for his writings on the importation of Zen in the West.

*Ishihara Chiaki 石原千秋 (1955- ): Scholar of modern literature and Soseki specialist. Part of the Soseki boom in 1980s, Ishihara helped found the Soseki kenkyū kai and journal in 1993.

*Inoue Hisashi 井上 ひさし (1934- ): Leading playwright and comic novelist. Born in Yamagata, he lost his father when he was 4 years old and was subsequently sent off to a Lasallian home for children where he received a Christian baptism. He graduated from Sophia University. After an initial career in radio, he wrote his first stage play Nihonjin no Heso in 1969 for Theatre Echo. He first gained literary recognition for his satirical comic plays in the tradition of the Edo period Gesaku genre. Inoue has won a very large number of literary awards in the course of his career, including the 67th Naoki Prize in 1972 for his novel Tegusari Shinju ("Handcuffed Double Suicide"). He followed on this success in 1981 with Kirikirijin ("The People of Kirikiri"), which was awarded both the Yomiuri Literary Prize and the 2nd Japan Science Fiction Award. In 1984, he established his own theatre troupe, called Komatsuza, to perform his own plays. These include biographical works on Meiji period writers Ishikawa Takuboku and Higuchi Ichiyō, whom he had long admired. In 1988, he completed a comic trilogy: Kirameku seiza, Yami ni saku hana, Yuki ya kon kon, depicting the lives of ordinary people in the Showa period. Despite his activity with the theatre, Inoue continues to write, winning the 1982 Seiun Award for Best Novel for Kirikirijin, the Yoshikawa Eiji Literary Prize for Treasury of Disloyal Retainers in 1986, the 27th Tanizaki Prize for Shanghai Moon in 1991, and the Kikuchi Kan Literary Award for Tokyo Seven Roses in 1999. In 1984, the Writer's Block Library was opened in Kawanishimachi, Yamagata prefecture, thanks to Inoue's donation of his 100,000 volume book collection. Inoue served as president of the Japan P.E.N. Club from 2003 to 2007. Chichi to kuraseba, has been translated into the English language by Roger Pulvers under the title The Face of Jizo. (Answers.com)

*Inoue Yasushi 井上靖 (1907-1991): Comic plawright and novelist. Japanese novelist noted for his historical fiction, notably Tempyō no iraka (1957; The Roof Tile of Tempyō), which depicts the drama of 8th-century Japanese monks traveling to China and bringing back Buddhist texts and other artifacts to Japan. Inoue graduated from Kyōto University in 1936. He served as literary editor of the Mainichi shimbun, a newspaper, for 12 years except for a brief period of military service in northern China in 1937. His fascination with China and its history grew from this experience. Inoue’s first work, Ryōjū (1949; The Hunting Gun), about loneliness in the modern world, attracted critical acclaim; it was followed by Tōgyū (1949; “The Bullfight”), which secured his reputation. Among his many other successes are the novel Tonkō (1959; Tun-huang), which re-created 11th-century China and centred on the Buddhist treasure troves hidden in the Tun-huang (Dunhuang) caves, as well as Hyōheki (1956; “Wall of Ice”), Futo (1963; Wind and Waves), and Saiiki monogatari (1969; Journey Beyond Samarkand). His short stories are collected in Aru gisakka no shogaiThe Counterfeiter) and Lou-Lan (1959; Lou-lan and Other Stories). Inoue is also known for his autobiographical narratives. Waga haha no ki (1975; Chronicle of My Mother), his moving and humorous account of his mother’s decline, exemplifies the characteristics of a Japanese poetic diary as well as the classical zuihitsu, a highly personal mode of recording experiences and observations. One of his late novels is Kōshi (1989; Confucius), a fictionalized account of the life of Confucius. (Encyclopædia Britannica)

*Aeba Takao 饗庭孝男 (1930- ): Literary critic, author of Hihyō to hyōgen (). He made his debut with Sengo bungaku ron (Postwar Literature, 1966), which was based on his experiences during and after the war. This was followed by a reading of Western literature and culture entitled Ishi to hikari no shisō (The Philosophy of Stone and Light, 1971), and then such works of criticism as Hanrekishishugi no bungaku (Anti-historical Literature,1972), Zettai e no katsubō (Thirst for the Absolute, 1972) and Furansu romanesuku (French Romanesque, 1999) that continue to investigate the possibility of defining a modern Japanese epistemology. (Mark Jewel, jlit.net)

*Agawa Hiroyuki 阿川弘之 (1920- ): Novelist born in Hiroshima Prefecture. While a high school student, he came under the influence of Shiga Naoya. After graduating from Tokyo University in Japanese literature, he entered the navy, in which he served until the end of World War II. Agawa achieved recognition as a novelist for Nennen saisai (Years upon Years, 1946), in which he described losing his home in Hiroshima because of the atomic bomb. In 1955 he published Kumo no bohyō (Grave Marker in the Clouds), depicting students who met their deaths during the war as kamikaze pilots. Other works include Haru no shiro (Spring Castle, 1952) and Yamamoto Isoroku (1965). (Mark Jewel, jlit.net)

*Akagawa Jirō 赤川次郎 (1948- ): Novelist born in Fukuoka, Kyushu. After working as a businessman for ten years, he made his literary debut in 1976 with the short story Yūrei ressha (Ghost Train), which won the All Yomiuri New Mystery Writers' Prize. He gained popularity as a mystery writer because of his imagistic touch, suspenseful plot development, and unusual ideas. He has produced numerous works, most notably those in the Mike-neko (Tortoiseshell Cat) Holmes series. (Mark Jewel, jlit.net)

*Murayama Tomoyoshi 村山知義 (1901-1977): Artist, plawright, and drama producer involved in both the constructivist and MAVO movements. A Christian, he was involved in the Communist Party until he recanted under pressure in 1934.

*Shibukawa Gyō 渋川驍 (1905-1993): Novelist and prominent scholar of modern Japanese literature.

*Horiguchi Daigaku 堀口大学 (1892-1981): Poet. Born in Tokyo, he joined Shinshisha (The New Poetry Society) in 1909 and while studying tankapoetry in the style advocated by the society, he also began to write other verse, encouraged by Yosano Tekkan and his wife Akiko, who had founded the society. In 1910, Horiguchi entered the literature department of Keio University and began to contribute his verse to Mita Bungaku (Mita Literature), the university's journal, and Subaru (The Pleiades), Shinshisha's magazine. In 1911, he left Keio to accompany his father, a diplomat, to Mexico. This was followed by postings to Belgium, Spain and Brazil, that were to last a total of 14 years. During this time, he learnt French and became interested in the novels and poetry of the French writers, especially the Symbolists. Being of a rather weak constitution, Horiguchi gave up the idea of becoming a diplomat and devoted his time to writing verse and translating French works. In 1919 he published his first anthology of verse, Gekko to Pierrot (Moonlight and Pierrot), and a book of waka verse, Pan no fue (Pan pipes). On returning to Japan in 1925, he brought out a collection of translated poems Gekka no ichigun, which became the talking point in literary circles. In the following years he created two poetry magazines, Pantheon and Orpheon. Horiguchi added a new page to modern Japanese poetry, with his elegant, glowing verse that combined the flexibility of Japanese style with hints of the beautiful resonance of the French language. He was also highly regarded as a translator of French verse, with his mature rendering of Paul Morand's Ouvert la nuit (Yo hiraku; Night opens), as well as the poetry of Paul Verlaine, Guillaume Apollinaire and Jean Cocteau. (city.kamakura.kanagawa.jp)

*Hotta Yoshie 堀田善衛 (1918-1998): Novelist. An "international" writer whose works dealt with political themes, Hotta won the Akutagawa Prize in 1951 for Hiroba no kodoku (Solitude in the Square, based on the reaction of intellectuals to the outbreak of the Korean War). He traveled widely and often throughout the Third World, receiving the Lotus Award from the Asian and African Writers Conference in 1978 for his activities on behalf of that organization. He also received the Osaragi Jirō Award in 1977 for a four-volume biography of the Spanish painter Goya. (Mark Jewel, jlit.net)

*Hasumi Shigehiko 蓮實重彦 (b. 1936): Novelist, editor, scholar of French literature, and art and film critic. The former president and a Professor Emeritus of the University of Tokyo, Shigehiko is known as both a scholar of French literature and a film critic. After graduating from the University of Tokyo in 1958, he received a Doctorate degree from the University of Paris in 1965 with his thesis on Gustave Flaubert. His publications include prize-winning books such as Maxime Du Camp: The Invention of Mediocrity and Director Yasujiro Ozu. In addition to his extensive Japanese-language writings, his work has been published in journals such as Cahiers du cinéma, Cinéma, and Trafic in France and Film Comment in the United States. (Fipresci.org) He also authored the works Monogatari hihan josetsu and Natsume Soseki ron.

*Kumakura Chiyuki 熊倉千之 (1936- ): Literary scholar and linguist. Author of History and Narrative in Japanese. He is also known for his studies of Genji monogatari that focus on narrative structure and point of view.

*Karatani Kōjin 柄谷行人 (1941- ): Philosopher and profess at Kinki University, Osaka, and Columbia University. Kojin Karatani was born in 1941 in Amagasaki city, located between Osaka and Kobe. He received his B.A. in economics and M.A. in English literature, both from Tokyo University. Awarded the Gunzo Literary Prize for an essay on Natsume Soseki in 1969, he began working actively as a literary critic, while teaching at Hosei University in Tokyo. In 1975 he was invited to Yale University to teach Japanese literature as a visiting professor, where he became acquainted with Yale critics such as Paul de Man and Fredric Jameson. After publishing “Origins of Modern Japanese Literature” in 1980, Karatani proceeded from literary criticism to more theoretical studies ranging from “Architecture as Metaphor: language, number, money” to “Transcritique: on Kant and Marx. At the same time, he made a political commitment to editing the quarterly journal 'Critical Space' with Akira Asada. "Critical Space" was the most influential intellectual media in Japan until it folded in 2002. In 2000, Karatani also organized New Associationist Movement (NAM). Since 1990 he has taught regularly at Columbia University as a visiting professor of comparative literature. He has also taught as a visiting professor at Cornell and UCLA. He was a regular member of ANY, the international architects' conference which was held annually for the last decade of the 20th century. In 2006, Karatani retired from teaching in Japan to devote himself full-time to his lifework. (KojinKaratani.com) Fūkei no hakken (opposed to meisho kyūseki) in 1880s and 90s led to naimen no hakken, nature immediately appropriated to culture in epistemological tentō inversion; shizen and sakui forge to make jinen (kotoba to higeki); modernity is the merging of subject/object and other dialectics; Edo Exegesis and the Present: on Edo revival (in Marra’s book): Late capitalism Postmodern Edo revival and 1930s Edo revival similar; present and late-Edo periods similar: share gesaku lightness, reached the end of history (see Marra’s book). Iki means not going all the way; modern (love, heaviness, etc.) means going all the way: therefore, Edo and the modern are antithetical (we’ve returned to the Edo phase).

*Maeda Ai 前田愛 (1931-1987): Renowned literary and cultural critic. He taught at Rikkyō University. His many books include the three-volume The Space of Tokyo: 1868-1930 (1986), The World of Higuchi Ichiyō (1978), Meiji as Phantasm (1978), The Creation of the Modern Reader (1973), and Text and the City: Essays on Japanese Modernity.

*Jinnai Hidenobu 陣内秀信 (1947- ): Architectural historian best known for his seminal work Tōkyo no kūkan jinruigaku, which was translated to English in 1995.

*Etō Jun 江藤淳 (1932-1999): Mainstream literary critic born in Tokyo. Attended Keio University, where as a student in 1955 he published the first volume of his lifelong critical study of Natsume Sōseki. Much admired for bringing the idolized Sōseki down to human level, Etō also wrote biographies of Kobayashi Hideo and Katsu Kaishū, and produced a large volume of essays on current topics, written mostly from a conservative, nationalistic standpoint. (Mark Jewel, jlit.net) Early on, he published a ground-breaking study of Soseki, which revealed the darker and more ambiguous side of the writer. Soseki ronshū; Kobayashi Hideo ronshu; Kokka to wa nani ka; Ichizoku saikai. Seijuku to sōshitsu (1967; Japan as maternal society; modern male crises of loss of mother and lack of father: time to grow up!);

*Terayama Shūji 寺山修司 (1935-1983): Experimental playwright, poet and essayist born in Aomori Prefecture. He showed precocious talent as a composer of Western-style poetry and tanka while still a student at Aomori High School. In 1954, after entering Waseda University, he published a collection of 50 tanka titled Chehofu sai (The Chekov Festival) that won a prize for new tanka poets awarded by the magazine Tanka kenkyū (Studies in Tanka). His light, rhythmical style underwent a change beginning with the collection Chi to mugi (Blood and Wheat, 1962), which shows a growing interest in regional customs and focuses mainly on dark motifs of pathos and resentment. Criticism includes the collection of essays Sho o suteyo, machi ni deyo (Throw Away the Books and Go Out into Town, 1967). Terayama’s work has recently been reappraised as a constituting an effective avant-garde response to the negative view of modern tanka taken by Kuwabara Takeo. (Mark Jewel, jlit.net)

*Suzuki Tadashi 鈴木忠志 (1939- ): Theater director, writer, and philosopher working out of Toga, Japan. Suzuki is the founder and director of the Suzuki Company of Toga (SCOT), Chairman of the Japan Performing Arts Foundation, Artistic Director of the Shizuoka Performing Arts Center, the co-founder of the SITI Company in Saratoga Springs, New York, and the creator of the Suzuki Method of Actor Training. He organized Japan's first international theatre festival, the Toga Festival from 1982 through 1999 and a member of the International Committee of the Theatre Olympics since 1993. He has published over 12 books in Japanese and The Way of Acting stands as his most influential work published in English. (nationmaster.com)

*Yamaguchi Hitomi 山口瞳 (1923-1995): Popular novelist and essayist. Born in Tokyo. Novelist and essayist Yamaguchi Hitomi was born in Tokyo in 1926. He worked himself through university and after graduating from Kokugakuin University, he joined the publisher, Kawade Shobo, but lost that job a few years later when the company went bankrupt. He then became a copywriter and editor of a wine magazine at Kotobukiya (the forerunner of Suntory). His colleagues in the publicity department were the writer, Kaiko Ken, and the artist, Yanagihara Ryuhei. In 1954, he began writing for the magazine, Gendai Hyoron (Contemporary Criticism), where his fellow critics were Okuno Takeo and Yoshimoto Takaaki. Yamaguchi's novel, Eburimanshi no yuga na seikatsu (The Refined Lifestyle of Mr. Everyman) was serialized in the women's monthly magazine, Fujin Gaho, from 1961-2 and won him the Naoki Prize. This marked the start of his literary career in earnest. Among his best works are Majime ningen (A Serious Person), Izakaya Choji, Ketsu zoku (Blood Relations), and Kazoku (Family). Dansei jishin (Man Himself), his witty essays about the joys and sorrows of everyday life, was serialized in the weekly magazine, Shukan Shincho, from 1963 until his death in 1995-an amazing total of 1,614 episodes. His other works include Waga machi (Our Town), that depicted warmhearted neighborly love, and Nanjamonja, a humorous account of his travels around Japan. Yamaguchi Hitomi lived in the house next door to Kawabata Yasunari in Hase for three years from 1945. After that, he moved to Tokyo. During his time in Kamakura, he attended the Kamakura Academia, where his teachers included the philosopher and science historian, Saegusa Hiroto, the tanka poet, Yoshino Hideo, and the novelist and poet, Takami Jun. Yamaguchi's book about Yoshino Hideo describes that period in great detail. (city.kamakura.kanagawa.jp)

*Doi Takeo 土居健郎 (1920-2009): Psychiatrist who broke ground with his best-selling book Amae no kōzō (1971; The Anatomy of Dependence, 1973), as perhaps the first Japanese expert to analyze the Japanese idea of amae(“indulgent dependency”) and the first to exert wide influence on Western psychiatric thought. Doi graduated from the University of Tokyo (M.D., 1942) and taught there (1971–80) before becoming a professor (1980–82) at the International Christian University in Tokyo and later a special adviser to the Peace and Happiness Through Prosperity Research Institute. In 1950 he traveled to the U.S. to study psychiatry, and the culture shock he experienced prompted his investigation of the Japanese psyche. Doi’s groundbreaking theory centred on the concept of amae, which he defined as a culturally ingrained dependence on authority figures that retained a pervasive influence on all Japanese social structures. He further explored amae in later books, notably Omote to ura (1985; The Anatomy of Self: The Individual Versus Society, 1986). (Encyclopædia Britannica)

*Nakane Chie 中根千枝 (1926- ): Author and anthropology professor at University of Tokyo. Trained after the war, Nakane has long been the best-known Japanese anthropologist outside of Japan. He is the author of the classic nihonjinron work, Tateshakai no ningen kankei (1967), which legitimates “ie” as a living tradition and kazoku-kokka as patriarchal ideology.

*Yoshida Ken'ichi 吉田健一 (1912-1977): Author and literary critic. Born in Tokyo in 1912, the son of Prime Minister Yoshida Shigeru, he spent his childhood abroad, accompanying his father to postings in China, France, and the United Kingdom. He studied English literature at Cambridge University, but returned to Japan after one year. He debuted as a writer in 1935 with a translation of Edgar Allan Poe's Memorandum (Oboegaki). In 1939, with Nakamura Mitsuo and Yamamoto Kenkichi, he co-founded the literary magazine Hihyo, which published critiques of modern French and British authors. From the late 1940s, Yoshida has a prolific output, with works ranging from Shakespeare and English literature to fictional, with short stories and novels, including some lighter works such as Saisho Onzoshi Hinkyusu (Prime Minister's Son Falls on Hard Times). The work Saisho Onzoshi Hinkyusu was titled by publisher, also he didn't agree with. So he published private edition of that work with its title changed into Detarameron. Yoshida lived in Kamakura between 1946 and 1953. He died in 1977 at the age of 65. Due to his upbringing in Europe, he is said to have thought in English rather than in Japanese. It is said that when he got drunk he would lash out in French and English. (Allexperts.com) Tōzaibungakuron;

*Gotō Meisei 後藤明生 (1932-1999): Author. Goto was born in North Korea, but fled with his family to Kyushu, Japan while in junior highschool. He studied Russian literature at Waseda University, with particular interest in Nikolai Gogol. He then worked at an advertising agency and a publishing house, before becoming a professional novelist in 1968. (Allexperts.com)

*Katō Shūichi 加藤周一 (1919- ); A history of Japanese literature (1997); Critic born in Tokyo. Katō’s earliest critical sensibilities, developed during middle school, were defined by a sense of antimilitarism and an opposition to the idolatry of historical personages. After entering the First Higher School, he became acquainted with lifelong friends Nakamura Shin’ichirō and Fukunaga Takehiko and read French literature. He went on to medical school at Tokyo Imperial University, where he also attended classes in the French department. After the Second World War, Katō, Nakamura, Fukunaga and others formed the Matinée Poetique society, the members of which published poetry in fixed, rhyming forms. Beginning in 1951, Katō spent three years studying medicine in France. After his return to Japan, he began publishing articles on Japan from a Western-oriented standpoint, among whichZasshu bunka (A Crossbred Culture, 1955) in particular created something of a controversy. He lectured widely both in Japan and abroad, and continued to produce criticism in a thoroughly cosmopolitan vein. In literary criticism, this approach led to his Nihon bungakushi josetsu (A History of Japanese Literature, 1979-80), but he has also published several novels, a memoir, and since 1984 an irregular column for theAsahi Shinbun titled Sekiyo mōgo (False Words at Sunset). (Mark Jewel, jlit.net)

*Tanaka Yasuo 田中康夫 (1956- ): Politican and writer of consumerist fiction. Tanaka received the Bungei Award in 1980 when he was a law student at Hitotsubashi University with his maiden novel, ‘Nantonaku, Crystal (Feeling Crystal).’ The story, featuring young people living in a post-war economic prosperity, sold over a million copies. It received rave reviews from many literary critics including Jun Eto and Hiroshi Noma who is also a novelist. He wrote ‘Brilliant na Gogo,’ (Brilliant Afternoon) featuring a fashion model who put all her energy and spirit in ‘flashy moments’ on a catwalk. In ‘On Happiness,’ he wrote about a checkered relationship between two girls seeking true happiness in life. He also wrote many short stories including ‘Mukashi-mitai (Just like Yesterday), ‘Thirsty,’ and ‘H.’ All these stories feature young people, so-called ‘children of a consumption age’ living in an age of material prosperity, each struggling to find his or her true-self, identity. Tanaka also began a serial called ‘Faddish Modernology’ in weekly Asahi Journal in 1985, ‘Kami-naki kuni no Gulliver (Gulliver on a godless land) in weekly Shukan Spa!. He currently writes ‘Tokyo Peroguri Diary,’ and ‘Kikkai Nippon , （Bizarre Japan) in evening newspaper Nikkan Gendai. (Love-nippon.com)

*Takayama Hiroshi 高山博 (1956- ): Professor of European history at the University of Tokyo.

*Murakami Haruki 村上春樹 (1949- ): Haruki is the most widely translated Japanese novelist of his generation. Murakami’s first novel, Kaze no uta o kike (1979; Hear the Wind Sing), won a prize for best fiction by a new writer. From the start his writing was characterized by images and events that the author himself found difficult to explain but which seemed to come from the inner recesses of his memory. Some argued that this ambiguity, far from being off-putting, was one reason for his popularity with readers, especially young ones, who were bored with the self-confessions that formed the mainstream of contemporary Japanese literature. His perceived lack of a political or intellectual stance irritated “serious” authors (such as Ōe Kenzaburō), who dismissed his early writings as being no more than entertainment. Murakami’s first major international success came with Hitsuji o meguru bōken (1982; A Wild Sheep Chase), a novel that acquires an eerie quality from the mysterious sheep that comes to possess the narrator’s friend, known as “the Rat.” The narrator and the Rat reappeared in Murakami’s next important novel, Sekai no owari to hādoboirudo wandārando (1985; Hard-Boiled Wonderland and the End of the World), a fantasy that was successful with the public and was the winner of the prestigious Tanizaki Prize. One of Murakami’s most ambitious novels, Nejimaki-dori kuronikuru (1994–95; The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle), represents a departure from his usual themes: it is devoted in part to depicting Japanese militarism on the Asian continent as a nightmare.Andāguraundo (1997; Underground) is a nonfiction account of the sarin gas attack carried out by the AUM Shinrikyo religious sect on a Tokyo subway in 1995. The novel Supūtoniku no koibito (1999; Sputnik Sweetheart) probes the nature of love as it tells the story of the disappearance of Sumire, a young novelist. Subsequent novels include Umibe no Kafuka(2002; Kafka on the Shore) and Afutā dāku (2004; After Dark). Several short-story collections, including Blind Willow, Sleeping Woman (2006), translate Murakami’s stories into English. He also wrote a memoir, Hashiru koto ni tsuite kataru toki ni boku no kataru koto(2007; What I Talk About When I Talk About Running), which centres on his love for marathon running. An experienced translator of American literature, Murakami also published in Japanese editions of works by Raymond Carver, Paul Theroux, Truman Capote, Ursula K. Le Guin, and J.D. Salinger. (Encyclopædia Britannica)

*Murakami Ryū 村上龍 (1952- ): Novelist and filmmaker. His first work, the short novel Almost Transparent Blue, written while he was still a student, deals with promiscuity and drug use among disaffected Japanese youth. Critically acclaimed as a new style of literature, it won the newcomer's literature prize in 1976 despite some observers decrying it as decadent. Later the same year, Blue won the Akutagawa Prize, going on to become a best seller. In 1980, Murakami published the much longer novel Coin Locker Babies, again to critical acclaim. Takashi Miike's feature film Audition (1999) was based on one of his novels. Murakami reportedly liked it so much he gave Miike his blessing to adapt Coin Locker Babies. The screen play was worked on by director Jordan Galland. However, Miike could not raise funding for the project. An adaptation directed by Michele Civetta is currently in production. Murakami has played drums for a rock group called Coelacanth and hosted a TV talk show. (Goodreads.com)

*Ayukawa Nobuo 鮎川信夫 (1920-1986): Poet born as Kamimura Ryūichi in Tokyo, who along with Tamura Ryūichi, Kuroda Saburō and others founded the important magazine Arechi (The Wasteland) in 1947. His poetry and criticism are characterized by thematic diversity and a wide-ranging sensibility. His works include Ayukawa Nobuo shishū (Collected Poetry of Ayukawa Nobuo, 1955), Gendaishi to wa nani ka (What Is Modern Poetry?, 1949), and Ayukawa Nobuo shiron shū (Collected Essays on Poetry, 1964). (Mark Jewel, jlit.net)

*Fujino Chiya 藤野千夜 (1962- ): Novelist from Fukuoka Prefecture, Kyushu. Graduated from Chiba University and worked for a publishing company until 1995, when her Gogo no jikanwari (Afternoon Schedule) won the 14th Kaien Prize for New Writers. Oshaberi kaidan (A Chatty Ghost Story) received the 20th Noma Literary Prize for New Writers, and the 1999 story Natsu no yakusoku (Summer Promise) received the 122nd Akutagawa Prize.(Mark Jewel, jlit.net)

*Fujisawa Shū 藤沢周 (1959- ): Writer and novelist. Native of Niigata City. Graduate of the Department of Japanese Literature, Hōsei University. Debuted in 1993 with Zōnu o hidari ni magare (Turn Left at the Zone). Worked until January 1996 as an editor at Tosho Shimbun. Lives in Kamakura. (Mark Jewel, jlit.net)

*Gen Getsu 玄月 (1965- ): Real name, Gen Minehide. Born in the city of Osaka. Self-employed after graduating from high school, won a minor literary award in 1998 for Ikyō no otoshigo (Born Out of Wedlock in a Foreign Land), and the same year was shortlisted for the Akutagawa Prize for Oppai (Breasts). His 1999 Kage no sumika (A Dwelling in the Shade) received the 122nd Akutagawa Prize. (Mark Jewel, jlit.net)

*Hanamura Mangetsu 花村萬月 (1955- ): Real name, Yoshikawa Ichirō. Tokyo-born novelist who, after graduating from junior high school, traveled around Japan by motorcycle working at various jobs. Debuted in 1989 with Goddu bureisu monogatari (God Bless), which won the Shōsetsu Subaru Award for New Writers. Lives in Mitaka, Tokyo. (Mark Jewel, jlit.net)

*Hidaka Toshitaka 日高敏隆 (1930- ): Tokyo-born critic who graduated from the Department of Engineering at Tokyo University. As a boy, he was fascinated by insects and animals, which eventually led to a lifelong career in the study of animal behavior. He was instrumental in founding the Japan Ethological Society in 1982. His many works include such titles as Chō wa naze tobu kaDōbutsu wa nani o mezasu no ka (What Are Animals Aiming At?), which, based on his research into "systems of autonomous dispersion," have important implications for understanding human nature.(Mark Jewel, jlit.net) (Why Do Butterflies Fly?, 1998) and

*Hoshi Shin'ichi 星新一 (1926-1997): Novelist and science fiction writer. He is one of the most popular short-story writers of postwar Japan, was born in Tokyo and raised in the house of his grandparents, Koganei Yoshikiyo (an anthropologist ) and Kimiko (the younger sister of Mori "gai ). Hoshi graduated in agriculture from Tokyo University, but then went through a difficult period during which his father died and the family-run Hoshi Pharmaceutical Company went bankrupt. He made his literary debut in 1957 when Sekisutora (Sextra), a story that had originally been published in a science-fiction coterie magazine, was selected for inclusion in Edogawa Ranpo’s Hōseki (The Jewel) magazine. Hoshi thereafter made the “short-short story” format his own special province, weaving into this compact form a sense of social criticism and a deep understanding of human nature. During his career Hoshi wrote over a thousand of these short-short stories, the first collection of which, Jinzō bijin (An Artificial Beauty, 1961), was nominated for the Naoki Prize. His Mōsō ginkō(The Delusion Bank) won the Japan Mystery Writers Award in 1968. Hoshi won a large and devoted audience of readers as a result of his portrayals of future angst and the tragicomedy of modern existence in stories characterized by bizarre situations, unexpected plot turns, and surprise endings. His stories use both humor and a fable-like didacticism to produce a biting irony that brings into sharp relief essential aspects of the human condition. Highly regarded full-length works include the science-fiction novel Koe no ami (A Net of Voices,1971), and the biographies Jinmin wa yowashi, kanri wa tsuyoshi (The People Are Weak, Bureaucracy Is Strong; 1968), about the unavailing attempts of Hoshi’s father to overcome official red tape, and Sōfu: Koganei Yoshikiyo no ki (My Grandfather: An Account of Koganei Yoshikiyo,1975). (Mark Jewel, jlit.net)

*Ichikawa Hiroshi 市川浩 (1931- ): Philosopher and critic born in Kyoto; a graduate of Kyoto University and the graduate school of Tokyo University. In opposition to the idea that human nature is controlled by reason, Ichikawa takes the position (influenced by French philosophy) that human existence can best be understood by using the concept of shintai (body). Works elaborating this theory include Seishin toshite no shintai (Body as Soul, 1975), Mi no kozō (The Structure of the Body, 1975), and Gendai geijutsu no chihei (The Horizons of Modern Art, 1985). Ichikawa's Bergson was published in 1991. (Mark Jewel, jlit.net)

*Iida Dakotsu 飯田蛇笏 (1885-1962): Haiku poet born in Yamanashi Prefecture. A pupil of Takahama Kyoshi, Dakotsu was an important contributor to the haiku journal Hototogisu and also helped found the journal Unmo (The Mother of Clouds) , of which he was the chief editor. His haiku are sonorous and clearly delineated expressions of solitary pride. Collections include Sanro shū (The Mountain Hat Collection, 1932), Reishi (The Ten-Thousand-Year Mushroom, 1940), Shinzō (The Mind’s Eye, 1947), Sekkyō (Snow Gorge, 1951), and Kakyō no kiri (Fog and My Native Land, 1956). (Mark Jewel, jlit.net)

*Takahama Kyoshi 高浜虚子 (1874-1959): Haiku poet and novelist born in Ehime Prefecture, Shikoku. While at middle school, he was in the same class as Kawahigashi Hekigoto and the two became disciples of the poet Masaoka Shiki. In 1897, the publisher Yanagihara Kyokudo brought out a new haiku magazine, Hototogisu, in Matsuyama, Shikoku, and Shiki became the literary editor, assisted by Kyoshi and Hekigoto. The following year, Kyoshi took over as editor and moved the magazine to Tokyo. He expanded the scope of Hototogisu to include waka poems and prose, so that it became a general literary magazine. This was where Natsume Soseki’s "Wagahai wa Neko de aru" (tr I Am a Cat) was first published and Kyoshi himself contributed stories and novels. After the Shiki’s death in 1902, Hekigoto began to move towards the "shinkeiko haiku" (new trend haiku), which ignored the traditional meter and seasonal words, while Kyoshi renewed his interest in orthodox haiku. He advocated a strict observance of haiku conventions, and encouraged objective observation and topics based on nature. Kyoshi is said to have written as many as 40,000 to 50,000 haiku in his lifetime, which appeared in anthologies such as "Kyoshi Kushu" and "Gohyaku Ku" (500 haiku). The better known of his fiction are the collection of short stories, "Keito" (Cockscomb) and the novel, "Kaki Futatsu" (tr The Two Persimmons). As editor of Hototogisu, Kyoshi was instrumental in bringing new writers and poets into the world, among them Mizuhara Shuoshi, Yamaguchi Seishi and Takano Suju. He also encouraged his second daughter Hoshino Tatsuko to publish her own haiku magazine, Tamamo. (city.kamakura.kanagawa.jp)

*Ijūin Shizuka 伊集院 静 (1950- ): Novelist born in Yamaguchi Prefecture. He graduated from Rikkyō University. A second-generation Korean resident of Japan, he was naturalized as a Japanese citizen in 1974. After working as a freelance director of TV commercials, he devoted himself to writing beginning in 1988. He won the 12th Yoshikawa Eiji Prize for New Writers in 1991 for ChibusaUkezuki (The Crescent Moon). He married the actress Natsume Masako, and after her untimely death he married a second time to the actress Shino Hiroko. He has written a large number of novels and essays, including the autobiographical Kaikyō (The Strait, 1991) and Goro-goro (Rolling Away, 2002), winner of the 36th Yoshikawa Eiji Prize for Literature. (Breasts), and in 1992 received the 107th Naoki Prize for

*Itsuki Hiroyuki 五木寛之 (1932- ): Novelist from Fukuoka Prefecture, Kyushu. Real name Matsunobu Hiroyuki. Raised largely in Korea, Itsuki returned to Japan with his parents after the war and entered Waseda University in 1947, majoring in Russian literature. Working at various writing jobs to support himself, he was eventually expelled for failing to keep up his tuition payments. Itsuki traveled to northern Europe and the Soviet Union in 1965, and after his return made his literary debut with Saraba Mosukuwa gurentai (Farewell to the Blockheads in the Moscow Regiment, 1966), taking the Naoki Prize in 1967 for Aozameta uma o miyo (The Spooked Horse, 1966). Succeeding novels won him widespread popularity, especially those in the Seishun no mon (The Gate of Youth, 1970-80) series. Itsuki is also highly regarded as an essayist, having published such collections as Kaze ni fukarete (Blowing in the Wind, 1968) and Gokiburi no uta (Song of the Cockroach, 1971).

*Iwai Katsuhito 岩井勝彦 (1947- ): Economist and critic who graduated in economics from the University of Tokyo and received a Ph.D. from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He has been a professor at Tokyo University since 1989. He attracted attention for his collection of essays titled Benisu no Shōnin no shihonron (Capitalism in The Merchant of Venice, 1985), which called into question the fundamental framework of economics. Other works include Fukin-shōdōgaku no riron (The Theory of Disproportionate Impulses, 1987), Kahei ron (The Theory of Money, 1983), and Owari Naki Sekai (World Without End, 1990). (Mark Jewel, jlit.net)

*Kawada Junzō 川田順造 (1934- ): Critic born in Tokyo; graduated from the Department of Liberal Arts, Tokyo University. Living on the African savannah with the Mossi tribe, Kawada demonstrated that language and music cannot be defined solely in terms of Western concepts. In his book Koe (Voices, 1988), he carried out an analysis of recorded voices, which tend to lose their essence when written down. Other books include Nishi no kaze, minami no kaze (West Wind, South Wind, 1992), in which Kawada proposes a rethinking of the term "civilization." (Mark Jewel, jlit.net)

*Kita Morio 北杜夫 (1927- ): Medical doctor and novelist born in Tokyo as the second son of tanka poet Saitō Mokichi. A graduate of the medical school at Tōhoku University, where he came under the influence of the works of Thomas Mann, he won the Akutagawa Prize in 1960 for the story Yoru to kiri no sumi de (In a Foggy Corner of the Night). Kita also garnered widespread popular acclaim as an author when he published Dokutoru Manbō kōkaiki (The Voyage of Doktor Manbō, 1960), the humorous account of a doctor serving aboard a Fisheries Office survey ship. Kita subsequently published a series of “Doctor Manbō” books. Other novels include Nire-ke no hitobito (The Nire Family, 1964), a lighthearted history of the Saitō family over a period of three generations that was praised as the first true "novel of the people" (shiminteki na hajimete no shōsetsu) by Mishima Yukio. In 1998 he completed a widely admired four-volume biography of his famous father. (Mark Jewel, jlit.net)

*Kiyooka Takayuki 清岡卓行 (1922- ): Novelist and poet born in Dairen, China, who graduated from the French Department at Tokyo University. His Akashiya no Dairen (Acacias in Dairen, 1969), in which he describes meeting his previously deceased wife, received the 62nd Akutagawa Prize. A poet at heart, Kiyooka has published such collections as Kōtta honō (Frozen Frames, 1959) and Nichijō (Daily Life, 1963), along with critical works like Jojō no zensen (On the Front Lines of Lyricism, 1970). Even such fictional works as Umi no hitomi(The Eyes of the Ocean, 1971) and Rito no kuni de (In the Country of Li Po and Tu Fu, 1986) are written with can be called poetic clarity of vision. (Mark Jewel, jlit.net)

*Kuroda Saburō 黒田三郎 (1919-1980): Poet born in Hiroshima Prefecture who graduated from the Department of Economics at the University of Tokyo. His work helped make the language of modern poetry easy for the average reader to understand, as seen especially in the collections Hitori no onna ni (To a Woman, 1954) and the masterly Chiisai Yuri to (With Little Lily, 1960). The former, bolstered by a strong sense of courage, qualifies as a postwar version of Takamura Kotarō's Chieko shō (Vignettes of Chieko), while the latter portrays Kuroda's life with his daughter while his wife was in the hospital. Other works include Jidai no shūjin (Prisoner of the Times, 1965). (Mark Jewel, jlit.net)

*Kurumatani Chōkitsu 車谷長吉 (1945- ): Novelist and non-fiction writer. After graduating from the German Department at Keio University, worked at an advertising agency, a publishing company, and as a cook's helper at various locations in the Kansai region. Received the Mishima Yukio Prize for Shiotsubo no saji (The Salt-Bowl Spoon, 1992) and the Hirabayashi Taiko Award for Hyōryūbutsu (Drifting Object, 1995). Lives in Bunkyō Ward, Tokyo. (Mark Jewel, jlit.net)

*Kusano Shinpei 草野心平 (1903-1988): Poet born in Fukushima Prefecture. After dropping out of Keio University, he studied at Lingnan University in Guangdong, China, publishing at his own expense a volume of poems composed by him and his deceased elder brother. Kusano returned to Japan in 1925 in the face of growing anti-Japanese sentiment and persuaded Miyazawa Kenji and Ogata Kamenosuke to write for the coterie magazine Dora(The Bell) that he had started publishing in China. Kusano’s first widely recognized anthology, Dai-hyaku kaikyū (The Hundredth Estate), appeared in 1928. It postulated a class of frogs positioned far below the Fourth Estate on the social ladder that Kusano used as a vehicle for giving anarchistic expression to the everyday emotions of ordinary people. In 1935 he established the magazine Rekitei (The Course Traveled), in which he continued to publish his own poetry and that of other poets. The anthology Bogan (Mother Lode, 1934) witnessed a turn toward a more positive style that affirmed the value of human life. The anthology Fujisan (Mt. Fuji, 1943) represented an attempt to come to terms with this famous mountain as a symbol of beauty. Other works include Kaeru (Frogs) and Teihon: Kaeru (Frogs: The Standard Edition). (Mark Jewel, jlit.net)

*Maeda Yūgure 前田夕暮 (1883-1951): Tanka poet from Kanagawa Prefecture who left Naka-gun Junior High School without graduating. Together with Wakayama Bokusui , he joined the Shazensō-sha founded by Onoe Saishū . His collection Shūkaku (Harvest, 1910) caused him to be placed, along with Bokusui, at the forefront of the Japanese Naturalist school. He later started the journal Nikkō with Kitahara Hakushū, which opposed itself to the darker tones of the Araragi poets. Other collections include Suigen chitai (At the Headwaters, 1932). (jlit.net)

*Matsumoto Seichō 松本清張 (1909-1992): Native of Fukuoka Prefecture and prolific writer of socially oriented detective and mystery stories. Matsumoto debuted as a writer after reaching the age of forty with the historically based Saigō-satsu (Saigō Takamori Chits, 1950) and Aru Kokura Nikki Den (The Legend of the Kokura Diary, 1952). He then went on to establish his unique style of detective fiction with the works Me no kabe (The Walls Have Eyes, 1957) and Ten to sen (Points and Lines, 1958). Historical novels include Mushukunin betchō (List of the Homeless, 1957), Kagerō ezu (Drawing of Heat Haze, 1958-59), and Tenpō zuroku (Illustrated Encyclopedia of the Tenpō Period, 1962-64). Well-known nonfiction works are Nippon no kuroi kiri (Black Fog over Japan, 1961) and the Shōwa-shi hakkutsu (Unearthing the Shōwa Period, 1964-1971) series. Matsumoto also wrote works on the theory of history, including Kodaishi-gi (A Skeptical Look at Ancient History, 1967). Other novels include Saigō Takamori Chits (1950) and Points and Lines (1958). (Mark Jewel, jlit.net)

*Miki Taku 三木卓 (1935- ): Poet and novelist born in Tokyo, and member of the coterie groups that publish the poetry magazines Han (Inundation) and Shi soshiki (Poetry Organization). His is a simple style that gives expression to life’s diversity. Anthologies of poetry include Tokyō gozen sanji (Three A.M. in Tokyo, 1959) and Wa ga kidirando (My Kiddyland, 1971). Some novels are Hiwa (The Siskin, 1972), Furueru shita (With Quivering Tongue, 1974), Karera ga hashirinuketa hi ( The Day They Went the Distance, 1978), Gyosha no aki (The Charioteer in Autumn, 1985) and Koguma-za no otoko (The Man from the Little Dipper, 1989). A collection of essays is Tokyo bishiteki hokōKotoba no suru shigoto [The Work Words Do, 1975]) and a work of juvenile fiction, Potapota (Drip, Drip, 1984). (Mark Jewel, jlit.net)
(Microscopic Strolls Through Tokyo, 1975). He has also written criticism (

*Miyamoto Teru 宮本輝 (1947- ): Novelist born in the city of Kobe. After graduating from ōtemon Gakuin University, Miyamoto started working at an advertising agency, but the tedious novels he read in literary magazines inspired him to try his hand at writing. He was awarded the Dazai Osamu Prize for Doro no kawa (River of Mud, 1977), the Akutagawa Prize for Hotarugawa (River of Fireflies, 1977), and the Yoshikawa Eiji Prize for Literature for Yūshun (A Fine Horse, 1986). Miyamoto takes the position that professional authors have an obligation to write novels that are interesting.(Mark Jewel, jlit.net)

*Mizukami Tsutomu 水上勉 (1919-2004): Novelist born in Fukui Prefecture. Poverty forced Mizukami’s family to send him to a temple in Kyoto to serve as an acolyte when he was nine years old. Disillusioned by the conduct of the temple's chief priest, however, he left the temple in 1936. Murakami’s literary outlook was shaped by his years at the temple and by the geography and climate of his birthplace, Wakasa. Mizukami entered the Japanese literature department at Ritsumeikan University, but was forced to drop out for financial reasons and because of bad health. While recuperating at home, he began reading literature in earnest. After World War II he apprenticed himself to Uno Kōji, and under his influence wrote the autobiographical Furaipan no uta (Song of the Frying Pan, 1952), which became a best-seller. For the next 10 years, however, Mizukami remained apart from the literary world. Then, in 1960, he published a work on Minamata disease titled Umi no kiba (The Ocean's Fangs), beginning a career as a writer of detective stories on social themes. His autobiographical Gan no tera (Temple of the Geese, 1961) adapted the genre to give expression to the melancholy feelings of a young boy, winning Mizukami the Naoki Prize. He followed this in 1962 with Kiga kaikyō (Starvation Straits). In 1963, under the influence of Matsumoto Seichō’s Ten to sen (Points and Lines), he published Kiri to kage (Fog and Shadows), then turned to the writing of novels dealing with the plaintive fate of women, including Gobanchō Yūgiri-rō (The Pavilion of the Evening Mist at Gobanchō, 1963) and Echizen takeningyō (The Bamboo Dolls of Echizen, 1964). Gradually Mizukami turned away from the depiction of social mores and manners, producing such biographical works as Ikkyū in 1974 and the explicitly autobiographical Teradomari (A Temple Stay) in 1977). Subsequent works included Kinkaku enjō (The Burning of the Golden Pavilion, 1979), an exploration of the psychology behind the famous incident previously fictionalized by Mishima Yukio, Ryōkan (1984) and Utsutake no fue (The Hollow Bamboo Flute, 2002). (Mark Jewel, jlit.net)

*Morisaki Kazue 森崎和江 (1927- ): Poet and nonfiction writer born in Korea; a graduate of Fukuoka Women’s Technical College (the present Fukuoka University). Beginning in the late 1950s, Morisaki joined the group publishing Boin (Vowels), a journal of poetry edited by Maruyama Yutaka. After moving to the coal-producing Chikuhō district of northern Kyushu, she founded the magazine Sākuru Mura (Circle Village) along with poet and critic Tanigawa Gan and historian Ueno Eishin. Running through her works is a strong awareness of the oppression suffered by individuals, especially laborers and women, at the hands of the state, and many of her works document this sort of oppression. These include Makkura (Pitch Black, 1961), Dai-san no sei (The Third Sex, 1965), and Karayuki-san (Sold Overseas,1976). More recently, Morisaki has written a number of works about the recovery of human Eros in symbiosis with nature, including Inochi hibikiau (Echoes of Life, 1998). (Mark Jewel, jlit.net)

*Mukōda Kuniko 向田邦子 (1921- 1981): Novelist born in Tokyo. Graduated from the Japanese Literature Department of the Jissen Josen school. She was awarded the Naoki Prize for short stories including Hana no namae (The Name of the Flower, 1980). Mukōda wrote more than 1,000 radio and television screenplays in her career, which was cut short by a tragic plane accident. Other works include Chichi no wabijō (A Father's Apology, 1978), Nemuru sakazuki (The Sleeping Sake Cup, 1979), and Omoide toranpu (Memories of Playing Cards, 1980). (Mark Jewel, jlit.net)

*Ōe Kenzaburō 大江健三郎 (1935- ): Novelist whose works express the disillusionment and rebellion of his post-World War II generation. He was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1994. Ōe came from a family of wealthy landowners, who lost most of their property with the occupation-imposed land reform following the war. He entered the University of Tokyo in 1954, graduating in 1959, and the brilliance of his writing while he was still a student caused him to be hailed the most promising young writer since Mishima Yukio. Ōe first attracted attention on the literary scene with Shisha no ogori (1957; Lavish Are the Dead), published in the magazine Bungakukai. His literary output was, however, uneven. His first novel, Memushiri kouchi (1958; Nip the Buds, Shoot the Kids), was highly praised, and he won a major literary award, the Akutagawa Prize, for Shiiku (1958; The Catch). But his second novel, Warera no jidai (1959; “Our Age”), was poorly received, as his contemporaries felt that Ōe was becoming increasingly preoccupied with social and political criticism. Ōe became deeply involved in the politics of the New Left. The murder in 1960 of Chairman Asanuma Inejirō of the Japanese Socialist Party by a right-wing youth inspired Ōe to write two short stories in 1961, “Sebuntin” (“Seventeen”) and “Seiji shōnen shisu,” the latter of which drew heavy criticism from right-wing organizations. Married in 1960, Ōe entered a further stage of development in his writing when his son was born in 1963 with an abnormality of the skull. This event inspired his finest novel, Kojinteki-na taiken (1964; A Personal Matter), a darkly humorous account of a new father’s struggle to accept the birth of his brain-damaged child. A visit to Hiroshima resulted in the work Hiroshima nōto (1965; “Hiroshima Notes”), which deals with the survivors of the atomic bombing of that city. In the early 1970s Ōe’s writing, particularly his essays, reflected a growing concern for power politics in the nuclear age and with questions involving the Third World. Ōe continued to investigate the problems of characters who feel alienated from establishment conformity and the materialism of postwar Japan’s consumer-oriented society. Among his later works were the novel Man’en gannen no futtōbōru (1967; The Silent Cry); a collection of short fiction entitled Warera no kyōki o ikinobiru michi o oshieyo (1969; Teach Us to Outgrow Our Madness); and the novels Pinchi rannā chōsho (1976; The Pinch Runner Memorandum) and Dōjidai gēmu (1979; “Coeval Games”). The novel Atarashii hito yo meza meyo (1983; “Awake, New Man”) is distinguished by a highly sophisticated literary technique and by the author’s frankness in personal confession; it concerns the growing up of a mentally retarded boy and the tension and anxiety he arouses in his family. (Encyclopædia Britannica)

*Ogawa Kunio 小川邦夫 (1927-2008): Novelist. In 1957 Ogawa wrote a story titled Aporon no shima (Isles of Apollo, 1957) on the basis of a trip he had taken to the Mediterranean. Eight years later, this story was praised by the novelist Shimao Toshio, an event that launched Ogawa on his career as a writer. Ogawa is widely admired for his insight into nature and mankind, and for his clear yet dense style. Works include Kokoromi no kishi (Attempted Shorest, 1972), Seidō jidai (The Bronze Age,1957), and Itsumin (Recluse, 1986), as well as numerous essays and travel accounts. (Mark Jewel, jlit.net)

*Ryū Keiichirō 隆 慶一郎 (1923-1989): Novelist from Tokyo who studied under Kobayashi Hideo. He published his first work of fiction, Yoshiwara gomenjō (A Yoshiwara Operating License, 1984), when he was over sixty years old. Based on Ryū’s personal conception of history, this novel portrays a class of rootless people who must struggle against discrimination in an attempt to recover their freedom and human dignity. Other works built around the same framework include Kakurezato kugaikō (Painful Pilgrimage to a Secret Village, 1987), Ichimu-an fūryū ki (An Elegant Account of the Hut of Dreams, 1989), and Kagemusha Tokugawa Ieyasu (The Double of Shōgun Tokugawa Ieyasu, 1989). Ryū's work had a revolutionary influence on the development of the Japanese historical novel. (Mark Jewel, jlit.net)

*Sagisawa Megumu 鷺沢萠 (1968-2004): Novelist born in Tokyo; real name Matsuo Megumi. She entered the Russian department of Sophia University in 1987 but left the university before graduating. Kawaberi no michi (The Path by the River, 1987) received favorable attention because of its subtle description of the restless spirit of an adolescent boy with a difficult family life; the novel won the Bungakukai Prize for New Writers, making Sagisawa the youngest writer ever to receive it. Kaerenu hitobito (Those Who Can Never Return, 1989), with its depiction of frustrated youth, was a candidate for the Akutagawa Prize. In 1989 Sagisawa also published Shōnentachi no owaranai yoru (The Endless Night of Youth), which was followed by such works as Stylish Kids (1990), Hazakura no hi (After the Cherry Blossoms, 1990), and Kakeru shōnen (The Running Boy, 1992). In her fiction, Sagisawa focused on the topic of modern youth seen within the context of a complex web of human relationships, portraying the anxieties of young people with a fresh sensitivity. Daitōryō no Kurisumasu tsurii (The Presidential Christmas Tree, 1994), F-Rakudaisei (An F-Student, 1996), and Bye-Bye (1997) helped her to establish a reputation as a truly contemporary author. Collections of essays include Machi e deyō, kisu o shiyō (Let’s Go to Town and Kiss, 1991) and Kenari mo hana, sakura mo hana (The Kenari and the Cherry Are Both Flowers, 1994). Her death at the age of 35 was a suicide. (Mark Jewel, jlit.net)

*Sasō Akira さそうあきら (1961- ): Manga artist born in Hyōgo Prefecture. Graduated from Waseda University's School of Literature. Known for portraying the casual occurrence of sex and violence in everyday life. The Shindō (Child Prodigy) series won an Award for Excellence in the Tezuka Osamu Cultural Prize competition in 1999. (Mark Jewel, jlit.net)

*Satō Ken'ichi 佐藤賢一 (1968- ): Novelist born in Yamagata Prefecture. In 1993 won the Shōsetsu Subaru Prize for New Writers for Jagā ni natta otoko (The Man Who Turned Into a Jaguar) while a graduate student at Tohoku University. Began writing full-time after completing his degree requirements in the autumn of 1998. Ōhi no kekkon (The Queen's Marriage, 1999) received the 121st Naoki Prize. Lives in Tsuruoka City.

*Shiba Ryōtarō 司馬遼太郎 (1923-1996): Shiba Ryōtarō was born in Osaka Prefecture. He received the Naoki Prize for Fukurō no shiro (The Castle of Owls, 1959), a panoramic novel of premodern Japan. Shiba then went on to redefine the genre of the Japanese historical novel. His Ryōma ga yuku (Ryōma Ventures Forth, 1962-66) is based on the life of the late-Edo-period samurai Sakamoto Ryōma; Kunitori monogatari (Tale of Conquest, 1965) won the Kikuchi Kan Prize; Junshi Yo ni sumu hibi (Alive in the World, 1969-70), about the Meiji Restoration activists Yoshida Shōin and Takasugi Kensaku, received the Yoshikawa Eiji Award for Literature; and Kaidō o yuku (Traveling Along the Old Highways, 1984), won the Grand Prize for Japanese Literature. Shiba remained a prolific writer and popular public speaker up to the time of his death. (Mark Jewel, jlit.net) (Self-Immolation, 1967), dealing with the suicide of General Nogi Maresuke, was awarded the Mainichi Art Prize.

*Tamura Ryūichi 田村隆一 (1923-1998): Member of the postwar Arechi (Wasteland) group of poets. Known for an abstract style of poetry that located spiritual salvation in the contemplation of destruction and a heightened awareness of the presence of death.

*Tanemura Suehiro 種村季弘 (1933-2004): Literary critic and scholar of German literature. Born in Tokyo. Graduate of the Department of German Literature, University of Tokyo. Known for his incisive and wide-ranging studies of European fantasy, deviation, and nonsense-literature. Tanemura also applied the results of these investigations to his readings of Japanese literature. (Mark Jewel, jlit.net)

*Tanikawa Shuntarō 谷川俊太郎 (1931- ): Poet born in Tokyo. His father was the philosopher Tanikawa Tetsuzō. When Tanikawa refused to enter college after graduating from high school, his father took some of the poems he had written to show Miyoshi Tatsuji, who in 1950 recommended them for publication in the journal Bungakukai (The World of Literature) under the heading "Nero and Four Other Poems." This marked Tanikawa’s literary debut. His straightforward style and fresh sensibility soon put him at the forefront of young postwar poets. Major anthologies of the immediate postwar period include Nijūoku kōnen no kodoku (Two Billion Light-Years of Solitude, 1952) and Rokujūni no sonetto (Sixty-two Sonnets, 1953). Beginning in the late 1950s Tanikawa extended his range of activities to include dramas, essays, and screenplays. Among his later anthologies are Utsumuku shōnen (Downcast Youth, 1971) and Hibi no chizu (A Map of Days, 1983). (Mark Jewel, jlit.net)

*Tsuji Kunio 辻邦生 (1925-1999): Novelist born in Tokyo; graduate of the French department of Tokyo University. The three years he spent in France between 1957 and 1960 had a decisive influence on his vision of the possibilities of literature, and in 1963 he made his debut with Kairō nite (In the Corridor), which was awarded the Prize for Modern Literature. In general, Tsuji's works were informed by an idealism directed at a higher plane of spiritual existence, and he produced a number of historical novels in which the protagonists search for the essential meaning of life at times of great social change. These novels include Azuchi ōkanki (1968, translated as The Signore), winner of a Ministry of Education Commendation in the Arts for New Artists, and Haikyōsha Yurianusu (The Apostate Julianus, 1972), winner of a Mainichi Award for Art. (Mark Jewel, jlit.net)

*Tsutsui Yasutaka 筒井康隆 (1934- ): Novelist born in Osaka. Graduated from the Department of Literature at Dōshisha University. He made his literary debut with the science-fiction story Otasuke (A Helping Hand, 1960), which was praised by the mystery writer Edogawa Ranpo. This was followed by such experimental works of science fiction as Kyokō sendan (The Fictitious Flotilla, 1984) and Yumenoki-zaka bunkiten (Fork in the Road on Yumenoki Hill, 1987). Tsutsui has also produced a number of satirical works critical of aspects of modern society, among them Bungakubu Tadano kyōju (Professor Tadano of the Literature Department, 1990). (Mark Jewel, jlit.net)

*Umesao Tadao 梅棹 忠夫 (1920- ): Critic born in Kyoto. Graduate of the Department of Animal Ecology, Kyoto University. He has done extensive field work in such areas as Afghanistan and Southeast Asia. His book Bunmei no seitaishi-kan (An Ecological View of the History of Civilization, 1967) attempted to "correct" the standard formula opposing East and West by dividing the world into two regions: one consisting of Japan and the West, and the other everywhere else. Other books include Chitekiseisan no gijutsu (The Technology of Intellectual Production, 1969), Nihon bunmei nanajūnana no kagi (Seventy-seven Keys to Japanese Civilization, 1988), and Kindai sekai ni okeru Nihon bunmei (Japanese Civilization in the Modern World, 2000).

*Yamakawa Masao 山川方夫 (1930-1965): Novelist born in Tokyo. Editor of the third series of the literary journal Mita bungaku (Mita Literature). Yamakawa first gained critical attention in 1957 with Hibi no shi (Death in Everyday Life). He is known for portraying the anxiety of modern youth with an urbane, sharp-witted sensibility. Representative works are Kaigan kōen (Seaside Park, 1964) and Ai no gotoku (Like Love, 1964). Yamakawa’s life was cut tragically short by a traffic accident. (Mark Jewel, jlit.net)

*Yamamoto Kenkichi 山本健吉 (1907-1988): Critic. After graduating from Keio University, where he studied under Orikuchi Nobuo, he joined the editorial staff of the journal Haiku kenkyū (The Study of Haiku). Beginning in 1939 he published a series of studies titled Watakushi-shishōsetsu sakka ron (On Writers of I-Novels) in the coterie magazine Hihyō (Criticism). His Koten to gendai bungaku (Classical and Modern Literature, 1955) is an analysis of the full range of Japanese literary history arguing that modern literature suffers from the attenuation of the common cultural bonds that joined Japanese artists up to the time of the Meiji period. Other works include Shōsetsu no saihakken (The Rediscovery of Fiction,1962), Shi no jikaku no rekishi (The History of Poetic Self-Awareness,1979), and Inochi to katachi (Life and Form,1981). Yamamoto was awarded the Order of Culture in 1983. (Mark Jewel, jlit.net)

*Yamamoto Shūgorō 山本周五郎 (1903-1967): Novelist born in Yamanashi Prefecture who depicted with uncompromising honesty the joys and sorrows of ordinary people. His many works include Nihon fudōki (The True Path of the Japanese Woman, 1943), Akahige shinryō tan (The Doctor with the Red Beard, 1958), Tenchi seidai (The Great Silence of Heaven and Earth, 1959), Momi no ki wa nokkota (The Fir Tree Remained Standing, 1958), Aokabe monogatari (The Tale of the Blue Wall, 1960), Kisetsu no nai machi (The Town with No Seasons, 1962), Nagai saka (The Long Slope, 1964), and the uncompleted Ogosoka na kawaki (A Solemn Thirst, 1967). Throughout his career, Yamamoto refused to accept the Naoki Prize or, indeed, any other literary prize.

*Yamanoguchi Baku 山之口貘 (1903-1963): Poet born in Okinawa Prefecture. A dropout from the First Okinawa Prefectural High School, he traveled to Tokyo in 1923, returning once to Okinawa and then going back to Tokyo again. Drifting from one job to another, he began associating with such writers as Satō Haruo and Kaneko Mitsuharu while writing poetry. In 1938 he published his first anthology, Shiben no sono (Garden of Speculation), which won him widespread admiration for its appealing, self-deprecating humor. Increasingly concerned over the occupation of Okinawa by the United States, Yamanoguchi published such poems as Okinawa yo doko e iku (Okinawa, Where Are You Going?, 1958). He continued to hope for some kind of harmony to be established in the troubled relationship between mainland Japan and Okinawa. He was welcomed warmly when he visited Okinawa in 1958, but he had decidedly mixed feelings about the way his homeland was being assimilated into mainland culture. His posthumous Maguro ni iwashi (Tuna and Sardines, 1964) includes poetry based on the Bikini H-bomb test. (Mark Jewel, jlit.net)

*Yokomizo Seishi 横溝正史 (1902-1981): Novelist born in Kobe. Read detective stories as a boy and in 1921, while employed by the Daiichi Bank, published his first story in the magazine Shin Seinen (New Youth). He turned to making and selling medicine for a living until 1926, when he joined the publishing company Hakubunkan as an editor. Yokomizo left Hakubunkan in 1932 to write full-time. After World War II, he raised the level of detective fiction in Japan to Western standards of craftsmanship. By the 1970s, success in both print and other media had made the name of Kindaichi Kōsuke, Yokomizo's master detective and the hero of hundreds of stories, one of the most celebrated in the country. (Mark Jewel, jlit.net)

*Yoshii Isamu 吉井勇 (1886-1960): Tanka poet born in Tokyo who left the School of Political Science and Economics at Waseda University without graduating. In 1908 he organized the Pan no Kai (Pan Society) with Kitahara Hakushū, then in 1909, along with Ishikawa Takuboku, founded the magazine Subaru (The Pleiades), making it into the stronghold of the group of poets often referred to as the Tanbi-ha (Aesthetes). Yoshii become famous almost overnight for the hedonistic collection Sakahogai (Revelry,1910), and he continued in the same stylistic vein for the rest of his career. Other works include Gion kashū (The Gion Collection, 1915) and Tokyo kōtō shū (Collection from the Tokyo Red-Light District, 1916). (Mark Jewel, jlit.net)

*Hirano Keiichirō 平野啓一郎: Novelist. Received the 120th Akutagawa Prize for Nisshoku (Solar Eclipse, 1998), which was written while Hirano was enrolled in the law department of Kyoto University, making him only the fifth college student ever to have won this prestigious award (the others were Ishihara Shintarō, Ōe Kenzaburō, Murakami Ryū, and I Yanji). (Mark Jewel, jlit.net)

*Okada Toshiki 岡田利規 (1973- ): Actor, playwright, theater director, and novelist. Won Ōe Kenzaburō prize in 2008. Born in Yokohama in 1973, Okada formed the theater company "chelfitsch" (always spelled with a small "c") in 1997. He has practiced a strange sort of methodology for creating plays. Even though he employs some, he nevertheless makes a point of "not getting too comfortable with a particular methodology or holding on to one style to the point where it holds him back." He has been using slangy Japanese, for which he has become famous since March 2001. The unique choreography, another hallmark of Okada's plays from then on, endows the actors with "noisy" corporeality. (precog-jp.net)

*Nishio Ishin 西尾維新 (1981- ): novelist, mangaist; parodist;

*Okuizumi Hikaru 奥泉光 (1956- ): Novelist. Born in Yamagata. Won Noma prize for Novalis no inyou in 1993, Akutagawa prize for Ishi no raireki (The Stones Cry Out) in 1994.

*Kishida Shū 岸田秀: Psychologist. Author of Nihonjin to 'Nihonbyō' ni tsuite, A Place For Apology: War, Guilt, and US-Japan Relations (trnsl.), among other works. Kishida first received attention in 1978 when he diagnosed the Japanese as schizophrenic in his book, Monogusa seishin bunseki (English translation: Slacker Psychoanalysis). He raised eyebrows again in 1996 with the publication of Nijūseiki o seishin bunseki suru, in which he likens Matthew Perry's rather ungentlemanly method of gunboat diplomacy to rape. He advises against compulsory English education in schools, citing what he considers the schizophrenic tendencies of the Japanese.

*Isozaki Arata 磯崎新 (1931- ): Architect. One of the best-known of a group of avant-garde Japanese architects of the late 20th century. Born to an upper-class family, Isozaki studied architecture at the University of Tokyo. Upon graduation, he became an apprentice for nine years to Tange Kenzō, a leading Japanese architect of the postwar period. During that period Isozaki also worked with a design team known as Urtec (Urbanists and Architects). He was somewhat influenced by the Metabolist movement, a brutalist group that combined a concern for modern technology and utilitarianism. In 1963 Isozaki formed his own design studio. He was a visiting professor at a number of universities throughout the United States. The first building for which he is noted is the Ōita Prefectural Library (1966), a Metabolist-influenced structure. After working as chief architect for Japan’s “Expo ’70,” Isozaki moved away from his more orthodox modernist structures and began to examine a variety of non-Oriental solutions to architectural problems. Among his innovative structures of this period are the Kita-Kyūshū City Museum of Art (1974), the Fujimi Country Clubhouse in Ōita (1974), the Okanoyama Graphic Art Museum (1982–84), and the Civic Centre for Tsukuba (1983). He also designed the Los Angeles Museum of Contemporary Art (1986). He wrote many books on architecture. (Encyclopædia Britannica) Of City, Nation, and Style;

*Ikezawa Natsuki 池澤夏樹 (1945- ): Poet, novelist, essayist, and translator of modern Greek poetry. Born on July the 7th of 1945 (Hokkaido Japan) and regarded as one of the best serious writers in Japan, Ikezawa is known for his love of islands, and lives on one in the far south of the Japanese archipelago. Since his debut as a novelist at the age of thirty-nine, the Pacific islands have provided the setting for seven of his major works. Ikezawa has also translated Vonnegut and other contemporary writers. He has received both Akutagawa and Tanizaki awards. (impala.jp)

*Okamoto Kanoko 岡本かの子 (1889-1939): Novelist, poet and Buddhism scholar born in Tokyo (Aoyama). Her husband was Okamoto Ippei, the caricaturist, and her son, Okamoto Taro, the avant-garde painter. In addition to music and traditional dance, Kanoko was fond of classical literature, especially Genji monogatari and Kokinwakashu, from early childhood. She was very much influenced by her older brother who studied at the First Higher School and Tokyo University. While still a student at the Atomi Gakuen girls' high school, Kanoko called on the renowned poet, Yosano Akiko, and this encounter prompted her to start contributing tanka to the poetry magazine Myojo (Bright Star). Later, she played an active part as a key contributor to another journal, Subaru (The Pleiades). In 1910, she married Okamoto Ippei and their son Taro was born the next year. She published the first of her five tanka anthologies, Karoki-netami, in 1912. After bringing out her fourth tanka anthology "Waga Saisyu Kasyu" (My last anthology) in 1929, she decided to become a novelist. In order to complete her literary studies, she took her family to Europe. They travelled to Paris, London, Berlin and finally America, before returning to Japan in 1932. After returning home, Kanoko was overwhelmed by her work as a researcher of Buddhism, but she found time to write Tsuru wa yamiki (1936, The Dying Crane), a novelette about the last days of the writer Akutagawa Ryunosuke, for the influential magazine Bungakukai, which gained her a foothold into the literary world. After that, she published many more works in quick succession, such as Hahako jojo, Kingyo ryoran, and Rōgishō (The Aging Geisha; 1938), but died of a brain disorder in 1939, at the age of 49. (kamakura.kanagawa.city.jp) Nyotai hiraken (1943). (Click here for Aozora Bunko texts.)

*Miyamoto Yuriko 宮本百合子 (1899-1951): Novelist born in Tokyo. While still a student at Japan Women’s University, she published the story Mazushiki hitobito no mure (A Crowd of Poor People, 1916). After leaving the university without graduating, she traveled to the United States, where she studied at Columbia University and met her first husband. Her novel Nobuko (1924-26) deals with the failure of this marriage. After a lengthy stay in the Soviet Union, she came back to Japan and married Communist Party leader Miyamoto Kenji, becoming active in the Proletarian Literature movement. She held firmly to her beliefs both during and after the Second World War. Works include Fūchisō (The Weathervane Plant, 1946), Hanshū heiya (The Harima Plain, 1946), Futatsu no niwa (Two Gardens, 1948), and Dōhyō (Mileposts, 1947-50). (Mark Jewel, jlit.net). Studied with Eisenstein in Russia; Hataraku fujin editor; Banshū plain (1945, about surrender); Her 1934 essay Fuyu o kosu tsubomi accuses Tanizaki of being a feudalistic writer. (Click here for Aozora Bunko texts.)

*Uno Chiyo 宇野千代 (1897-1996 ): Short-story writer and "I-novelist" who became better known for a personal life perceived as scandalous than for the break she made with the Japanese literary scene of the 1920s and ’30s.

After the publication of two early works in the 1920s, Uno moved to Tokyo, where she embarked on a career as a writer and embraced Western styles of dress and music. Divorced by her first husband, she married again, but that marriage foundered as Uno achieved success with her writing and pursued other lovers. She established her literary reputation with the novel Iro zange (1935; Confessions of Love), a vivid, widely popular account of the love affairs of a male artist. The character was based on the painter Tōgō Seiji, well known in Tokyo for having attempted suicide with a lover; Uno had a five-year relationship with him after her second divorce. As she acknowledged, her personal life, especially her relationships with men, fuelled her writing; her frank, spontaneous style was unique in Japanese fiction of the period. In 1936 Uno founded Sutairu (“Style”), Japan’s first Western-style fashion magazine. In 1939 she married for a third time; the marriage would last for more than two decades. She turned her attention to Bunraku theatre and in 1942 published Ningyōshi Tenguya Hisakichi (“The Doll-Maker Tenguya Hisakichi”). She wrote the narrative in the voice of Tenguya Hisakichi, a carver of Bunraku puppets, as though she were telling his own story, a device she would later use in perhaps her finest work, the novella Ohan (1957; Eng. trans. as Ohan in The Old Woman, the Wife, and the Archer). Published 10 years after she had begun writing it, Ohan tells the story of a man who, after leaving his wife to live with a geisha, wants to return to his wife. In this and later works she was no longer the uninhibited “modern girl” but was instead exploring the world of her youth. Uno remained active as a writer almost to the end of her life, and she continued to write autobiographical fiction, including Aru hitori no onna no hanashiThe Story of a Single Woman) and Ame no oto (1974; “The Sound of Rain”). By the 1970s she had begun to receive the recognition that made her a grande dame of Japanese letters. Ikite yuku watakushi (1983; “I Will Go On Living”), a memoir, became a best seller and was adapted as a television movie. (Encyclopædia Britannica)

*Mori Mari 森茉莉 (1903-1987): Female author who, in 1961 with The Lover's Forest, began a movement of writing about gay male passion. Mori Mari was greatly influenced by her father, Mori Ogai, and in this book, the older man can be seen as imbued with the same virtues and honor as she saw in her father. NYU Professor Keith Vincent has called her a "Japanese Electra," referring to the Electra complex counterpart put forth by Carl Jung to Sigmund Freud's Oedipal complex. This movement has spawned what is today known as Yaoi. An older man and younger boy are trademarks of her work. The older man is rich, powerful, wise, and spoils the younger boy. In The Lover's Forest, for example, the older man, Guido, is 38 or so, and Paulo is 17 or 18. Paulo is extraordinarily beautiful, prone to lounge lazily, and has a lack of willpower in all but the field of his pleasure. (Guido dies when Paolo is 19, and Paulo subsequently falls in love with a man who's been waiting in the wings, another one just like Guido.) The Yaoi movement has attracted controversy from feminists, who say that the women who read and write the material are rejecting their own femininity. Mori Mari died of heart failure, on June 6, 1987. (Allexperts.com) Koibitotachi no mori (1961) and other gay stories; tanbi shōsetsu, Yayoi influence;

*Nakamoto Takako 中本たか子 (1903-1991): Socialist writer;

*Hirabayashi Taiko 平林 たい子 (1905-1972): Socialist and feminist writer. She is one of Nagano Prefecture’s most famous literary figures and was at various times during her life an author, activist, biographer, and critic. Hirabayashi Taiko is best known, however, for her provocative, incisive, and unsettling proletarian literature which includes such famous stories as Self Mockery (1927), In the Charity Hospital (1927), and Blind Chinese Soldiers (1946). (femjapan.pbworks.com)

*Kōda Aya 幸田文 (1904-1990): Essayist and novelist born in Tokyo; a graduate of Joshi Gakuin High School. Kōda debuted as a writer with two essays about the death of her father, Kōda Rohan: Shūen (Final Days, 1947) and Sōsō no ki (Account of a Funeral, 1947). She then established herself as a novelist with Kuroi suso (The Black Hem, 1954) and Nagareru (Swept Away, 1955). She is highly regarded for having a style that is said to hark back to the literature of the Heian period, and her life itself was characterized by a simple elegance. (Mark Jewel, jlit.net)

*Sata Ineko 佐多稲子 (1904-1998): Female novelist. Sata began her career as a proletarian novelist, but underwent tenkō in the 1930s. After the war, she wrote autobiographical works focusing on the problem of her wartime collaboration and her stormy relationship with the Japanese Communist Party. (Mark Jewel, jlit.net)

*Takamure Itsue 高群逸枝 (1894-1964): Leading prewar feminist philosopher and historian. Takamure served as editor of the anarcho-feminist magazine Fujin sensen (), yet, like most other feminists, she was an enthusiastic supporter of the war. “Fascism," she explained, "which encourages women to have more children, values womanhood and is therefore liberating for woman” (de bary, 905). looked for matriarchical counter-countermodern; maternalist feminist vs. individualist feminists;

*Nogami Yaeko 野上弥生子 (1885-1985): Female novelist and part of Soseki’s circle. Her novels include Mori () and Meiro ().

*Hayashi Fumiko 林芙美子 (1903-1951): Novelist whose realistic stories deal with urban working-class life. Hayashi lived an unsettled life until 1916, when she went to Onomichi, where she stayed until graduation from high school in 1922. In her lonely childhood she grew to love literature, and when she went out to work she started writing poetry and children’s stories in her spare time. Hayashi’s own experiences of hunger and humiliation appear in her first work, Hōrōki (1930; “Diary of a Vagabond,” published in English translation in Be a Woman: Hayashi Fumiko and Modern Japanese Women’s Literature), and Seihin no sho (1931; “A Life of Poverty”). Her stories of degradation and instability, depicting women who remained undaunted, commanded a strong following. Often near sentimentality, they are saved by a realistic and direct style. She reached the peak of her popularity after World War II, when such stories as Daun taun (1948; “Downtown,” published in English translation in Modern Japanese Stories: An Anthology) and Ukigumo (1949; Floating Cloud) mirrored the harsh postwar scene. Hayashi died suddenly of heart strain from overwork. (Encyclopædia Britannica) (Click here for Aozora Bunko texts.)

*Enchi Fumiko 円地文子 (1905-1986): Novelist best known for her depiction of women’s struggles within Japanese society. Enchi Fumiko was the daughter of Ueda Kazutoshi, a prominent professor of Japanese linguistics at Tokyo University. Even as a small child, she accompanied her father to Kabuki performances, and from her grandmother she heard stories based on literature of the Tokugawa period (1603–1867). Her first interest was in the theater, and she effectively began her literary career in 1926, when she submitted a play to a competition. About this time she embraced left-wing political beliefs that proved to be at odds with her privileged family background. She subsequently married, unhappily, and for a time withdrew from literary activity. The short story Himojii tsukihi (1953; “Days of Hunger”) earned Enchi her first public acclaim. More success came with the novel Onnazaka (1957; “Female Slope”; Eng. trans. The Waiting Years), an account of a woman of the Meiji period (1868–1912) who defers to all her husband’s wishes, even choosing mistresses for him. The novel, based in part on the life of Enchi’s grandmother, is beautifully written. It not only won Enchi a literary prize but freed her from the dreariness of her own life and enabled her to embark on a literary career. Onnamen (1958; “Female Mask”; Eng. trans. Masks) depicts, by invoking the various female masks used in the Noh dramas, different unhappy women. Enchi’s early background in Japanese classical literature is revealed in her allusions not only to the Noh plays but to the 11th-century classic Genji monogatari (The Tale of Genji). The novel Namamiko monogatari (1965; “The Tale of Namamiko”; Eng. trans. A Tale of False Fortunes) purports to be a manuscript from the Heian period (794–1185) that describes the rival courts of the two consorts of Emperor Ichijō. It is a tour de force, possible only because of Enchi’s special knowledge of the period. Her translation of The Tale of Genji into modern Japanese, undertaken between 1967 and 1973, has been widely praised. (Encyclopædia Britannica). silent until 1956; Tanizaki-influenced; Genji translation; Onnamen (1958); Hana-kui uba (1974);

*Shibaki Yoshiko 芝木好子 (1914-1991): Postwar female writer. In her works she deals mostly with the lives of middle-class and lower-class women, and in particular with the impact of Japanese arts and crafts on her heroines. This is also true of her last long novel Gunjo no umi (1988-90). (cat.inist.fr)

*Hayashi Kyōko 林京子 (1930- ): Female author. Born in Nagasaki, Hayashi spent the years from 1931 to 1945 in Shanghai. After returning to Japan, she was enrolled in the third year of Nagasaki Girls' High School and was exposed to the atomic bomb while working as a recruit in the Mitsubishi Munitions Factory. She later studied for a time in a special course for women affiliated with the Nagasaki Medical University, but left before graduation. She started to write in 1962. “Ritual of Death” (“Matsuri no ba”) in which she described her experiences as an atomic bomb victim with a restrained lyricism, was awarded the 73rd Akutagawa Prize. “Two Grave Markers” (“Futari no bohyou”) and “Ritual of Death” were first published in the same year 1975. Hayashi's works in the seventies include also a sequence of twelve short stories titled “Gyaman bi-doro” (“Cut glass, blown glass”). Two of them are “The Empty Can” (“Aki kan”) and “Yellow Sand” (“Kousa”), both first published in 1978. The latter handles Hayashi's experience in Shanghai, which is related to the bombing. Hayashi's first full-length novel, “Naki ga gotoki” (“As if nothing had happened”) introduces a survivor who was brought up in China. The Nagasaki theme continues in her two recent collections, the Kawabata Prize - winning “Sangai no ie” (“Home in the three worlds”) and “Michi” (“the Path”). Hayashi lived near Washington, D.C., from 1985 to 1988. (home.hiroshima-u.ac.jp)

*Sono Ayako 曽野綾子 (1931- ): Novelist, Catholic, and prominent conservative commentator. Graduated from the University of the Sacred Heart, Tokyo, where she majored in English literature. Made her debut as a novelist in 1954. Has since been active as a writer of fiction and essays. Author of Kami no yogoreta te (trans. Watcher from the Shore: A Novel), Tenjô no ao (trans. No Reason for Murder), and other works. (Japanecho.co.jp) One of the saijo (talented females) of the so-called saijo jidai.

*Ishigaki Rin 石垣りん (1920- ): Poet born in Tokyo to who at the age of 14 joined the Industrial Bank of Japan as an office apprentice and continued working for the bank until her retirement in 1975. Interested in poetry since childhood, Ishigaki contributed poems to the bank’s various in-house publications. In 1938 she and several like-minded colleagues created the coterie magazine Dansō (Cross-Section). After the Second World War she continued to publish in the bank union’s poetry pamphlets, and these works formed the core of her first anthology, Watakushi no mae ni aru nabe to okama to moeru hi to (The Pot, Kettle, and Fire in Front of Me, 1959). Her poetry, written from the concrete standpoint of a working woman, expands in theme to include the problem of human existence itself. Major works include Hyōsatsu (Nameplate, 1968), which won the Mr. H Prize, and, after her retirement, Ryakureki (A Short Personal History, 1979).(Mark Jewel, jlit.net)

*Ariyoshi Sawako 有吉佐和子 (1931-1984): Novelist from Wakayama Prefecture. Made her debut with Jiuta (Song) in 1956 when she, along with other female authors like Sono Ayako, won a reputation as a saijo (woman of talent). Ariyoshi always broke new ground in her writing, producing a highly regarded series of novels on social themes beginning with Ki no kawa (The Ki River, 1959), portraying the complex relationship between past and present, Hanaoka Seishū no tsuma (The Wife of Hanaoka Seishū, 1966), an incisive study of female psychology, Kōkotsu no hito Fukugō osen (Compound Pollution, 1977). Her novel Senility was published in 1972. (Mark Jewel, jlit.net)

*Ikegami Eiko 池上英子 (？): Professor of sociology. Ikegami is the author of The Taming of the Samurai and Bonds of Civility, in which she discussess, incidentally, Ishikawa's essay Edojin no hassōhō ni tsuite.

*Ueno Chizuko 上野千鶴子 (1948- ): University of Tokyo professor of sociology and one of Japan's leading feminist theorists. Her major works include Nationalism and Gender (translated in 2004) and The Modern Family in Japan: Its Rise and Fall (translated in 2009).

*Uehashi Nahoko 上橋菜穂子 (1962- ): Fantasy novelist most known for her novel Moribito (The Guardian), which has been adapted into anime, manga, and other media. Nahoko Uehashi is the author of ten books in the Moribito series, which have sold more than a million copies and won many major literary awards in her native Japan. An associate professor at a Japanese university, she has a Ph.D. in cultural anthropology and studies indigenous peoples in Australia. She lives near Tokyo, Japan. (Arthuralavinebooks.com)

*Miyabe Miyuki 宮部みゆき (1960- ): Female detective novelist. She is author of Kasha (All She Was Worth, 1992) and fantasy novel Brave Story, which was adapted to anime.

*Nonami Asa 乃南アサ (1960- ): Female detective novelist. Nonami was born in Tokyo, and won the first Japanese Mystery and Suspense Award with her debut novel A Happy Breakfast in 1988. The Hunter was awarded the prestigious Naoki prize in 1996, and has been translated into Chinese and Korean. She is best known for mystery and suspense, although she writes in various genres and now has around fifty works published. (Oxford University Press)

*Tawada Yōko 多和田葉子 (1960- ): Missing Heels (1991); A Guest (1993); Gotthard Railway (1996); Novelist born in Tokyo. Graduated from Waseda University, majoring in Russian literature, then took an MA at Hamburg University, Germany, where she studied contemporary German literature. Her stories include Kakato o nakushite (Missing Heels, 1991), which won the Gunzō Prize for New Writers, and Inu muko iri (The Bridegroom Was a Dog, 1992), which was awarded the 108th Akutagawa Prize. In 1996 Tawada received the Adelbert von Chamisso Prize, a German award given to foreign writers in recognition of their contribution to German culture. She has also received the Prize in Literature from the City of Hamburg (1990) and the Lessing Prize (1994). In 1999 Tawada became Max Kade Distinguished Visitor and writer-in-residence in the Department of Foreign Languages and Literatures at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Most of her writing is characterized by a strategic awkwardness reflecting a wish to find a gap between cultures and fill it with the creative use of language, even though the result may give the impression of being a clumsy “stammer.” (Mark Jewel, jlit.net)

*Ōba Minako 大庭 みな子 (1930-2007): Novelist. Since winning the 1967 Akutagawa Prize for her short story ""Sanbiki no kani" (The Three Crabs, 1967), she has steadily built a literary career of remarkable stature and diversity. Her works can be grouped into four categories. Most significantly she has been known as a feminist writer who deals not only with women's issues, but also with wider gender issues, dealing exhaustively with relationships between men and women. She has also established a position as one who brings an international perspective to her writing. As with other contemporary writers, she approaches literature from her own global experience. At the same time, however, she is firmly grounded in her Japanese tradition, and a significant body of her work reaches back directly to the classics of the Japanese literary tradition and interprets them in ways that are meaningful in today's world. (Bookrags.com) Witness to Hiroshima bombing. Spent 11 years in Alaska. Sanbiki no kani (1968, akutagawasho, about life in Alaska, sex w/ man in pink shirt); katachi mo naku; Tsuga no yume (portrait of two selfish housewife/mothers)

*Yamada Eimi (1959- ): Bedtaim aizu; Jeshi no sebone; 「蝶々の纏足」; Novelist born in Tokyo. As a girl, her father’s job forced her family to move all around the country. She joined her high schools’s literature club and there began reading foreign writers. Yamada entered the Japanese literature department at Meiji University in 1977, and belonged to a club that studied manga. After dropping out of college, she worked for a time as a cartoonist. But dissatisfied with the expressive range available to her in comics, beginning in about 1980 she started writing novels. In 1985, Beddo taimu aizu (Bedtime Eyes), with its fresh depiction of the relationship between love and sex, won the Kawade Literary Prize and was also nominated for the Akutagawa Prize. In 1987, Yamada received the Naoki Prize for the short story Soul Music, Lovers Only. Works like Yubi no tawamure (Finger Play, 1986), Harlem World (1987), and Trash (1991) all focus on the central theme of physical love between men and women in the context of modern social mores and practices. Other works of Yamada’s have given expression to the delicate sensibilities of adolescents. Among these are Jeshii no sebone (Jessie’s Spine, 1986), Chō-cho no tensoku (Binding the Butterfly’s Feet, 1987) -- based on Yamada’s own experience as a perennial transfer student -- and Fūsō no kyōshitsu (Classroom for the Abandoned Dead, 1988), which deals with the subject of bullying. Collections of stories include Hōkago no kiinooto (After-School Keynote, 1989). (Mark Jewel, jlit.net)

*Ogawa Yōko 小川洋子 (1962- ): Novelist from Okayama Prefecture. Graduate of Waseda University. Since 1988, she has published more than twenty works of fiction and nonfiction. Her novel The Professor and his Beloved Equation has been made into a movie. In 2006 she co-authored "An Introduction to the World's Most Elegant Mathematics" with Masahiko Fujiwara, a mathematician, as a dialogue on the extraordinary beauty of numbers. Other works include Kanpekina byōshitsu (1989), Ninshin karenda- (1991), and Gibusu o uru hito (1989).

*Ellis Toshiko: エリス俊子: Professor of literature. According to her Tokyo University profile page, her interests are the "analysis of gengo-tai in modern Japanese poetry [...] and the "relationships between modernity and poetic language in Japan, reconsidering the concept of modernism." She is currently engaged "in detailed research into the Japanese poetry of the 1920s and 30s, searching for the transforming moment when language turns into poetry, and interpreting poetic language in the light of its historical context." Her ultimate goal, she states, "is to analyze the state of modern Japanese poetry as an interplay of diverse voices." (Tokyo University Language and Information Sciences).

*Koyama Shizuko 小山静子: Feminist sociologist at Kyoto University. Published important work Ryōsaikenbo to iu kihan in 1991.

*Yoshimoto Banana よしもとばなな (1964- ): Novelist born as Yoshimoto Mahoko in Tokyo. She is the second daughter of the critic Yoshimoto Takaaki. Her unique pen name comes from her love for the flowers of the banana tree. Yoshimoto aimed at becoming a novelist from childhood, and during her last year at Nihon University, she received an award from the dean of the literature department for her graduation project, the story Moonlight Shadow. In 1987 Yoshimoto’s first novel, Kitchen, won both the Kaisen Prize for New Writers and the Izumi Kyōka Prize, and eventually it became a worldwide best-seller. Yoshimoto has written many novels, short stories, and essays. Novels include Utakata (Evanescence, 1988), Sanctuary (1988), Kanashii yokan (A Sad Premonition, 1988), TUGUMI (Goodbye Tsugumi, 1989), N･P (N.P.: A Novel, 1990), Amurita (Amrita, 1994), SLY (1996), Furin to Nanbei (Adultery and South America, 2000), and Hagoromo (The Feathered Cloak, 2003). She has also written short stories like Shirakawa yofune (A Deep Sleep, 1989), Tokage (Lizard, 1993), and Karada wa zenbu shitte iru (The Body Knows Everything, 2000). Yoshimoto’s dry, modern sensibility -- together with the fantasy-like settings of her stories -- creates a vivid impression that has won her a large following, especially among young women the same age as the heroines of her stories. These heroines have in common the strength to overcome the loneliness and harshness of life and develop a sense of hope for the future. (Mark Jewel, jlit.net)

*Tsushima Yūko 津島佑子 (1947- ): Contemporary fiction writer, essayist and critic. She is also the daughter of famed novelist Dazai Osamu, who died when she was only one year old. While attending Shirayuri Women's University she started publishing fiction. At the age of 24, she published her first collection of stories, "Carnival" ("Shaniku-sai"). Now a prolific writer, she is the winner of several literary prizes. (Spock.com) Chōji (1978; two types of women); representations of motherhood, childrearing;

*Setōuchi Jakuchō 瀬戸内寂聴 (1921- ): Writer Setouchi Harumi became a Buddhist nun in 1973, taking the name Jakucho. Now aged eighty-four, she continues to inspire people around the world through her writing and Buddhist deeds. The Japan Journal visited Jakucho at her Jakuan retreat in Kyoto. Setouchi Harumi was born in 1922 and studied Japanese literature at Tokyo Women's University. She came to prominence as a writer with the publication of her first novel, Woman Student: Chung Ailing, in 1956. Since then she has had more than 200 novels and long essays published, among the more widely read novels being The End of Summer (1963), which won the Women's Literary Prize, Feminine Virtue (1963), Beauty in Disarray (1966), Hiei [Mt. Hiei], and the Tanizaki-Prize winning Hana ni Toe [Ask the Flowers] (1992). In 1998 she completed an acclaimed modern Japanese translation of The Tale of Genji, which has sold in excess of 2.3 million copies. (Japanjournal.jp) Shishōsetsu (1987)

*Kōno Taeko 河野多恵子 (1926- ): Kōno was born in 1926 in Osaka to a family of five children. Despite poor health, she studied at the Osaka Women's University where she became interested in the works of Izumi Kyoka and Tanizaki Junichiro, and a poem by Emily Bronte. She quit her studies, already interrupted by World War II, in 1947 and moved to Tokyo in 1952 where she contracted tuberculosis. She has devoted herself to writing since 1960. She won a prize for her 1962 story Yō�jigari (Toddler-hunting), and the 1963 Akutagawa Prize for Kani (Crab). In 1965 she married the painter Ichikawa Yasushi. In subsequent years she won a number of additional prizes, including the 1969 Yomiuri Literary Prize for Fui no Koe. (Allexperts.com) Tanizaki-like sadist fantasies. Hone no niku, 1969. story of anonymous woman abandoned by anonymous lover.

*Shinkawa Kazue 新川和江 (1929- ): Poet born in Ibaraki Prefecture. She graduated from Yūki High School and began writing poetry at the age of 20 under the poet Saijō Yaso. In 1965 she received the Murō Saisei Prize for her anthology Rōma no aki, sono ta (Autumn in Rome and Other Poems). She writes poems with a distinctive sense of rhythm and a skillful use of metaphor. Other major anthologies include the Nemuri isu (The Sleeping Chair, 1953), Hiyu de wa naku (Not as a Metaphor, 1968), and Hata-hata to peeji ga mekure (Let the Pages Flip By, 1999), which won the Rekitei Prize for poetry. (Mark Jewel, jlit.net)

*Takagi Nobuko 高樹のぶ子 (1946- ): Novelist born in Yamaguchi Prefecture. She made her literary debut in 1980 with Sono hosoki michi (That Narrow Road), which portrays the love of a college woman in the provinces. This and the stories Tōsugiru tomo (A Distant Friend, 1981) and Oikaze (A Following Wind, 1982) were nominated for the Akutagawa Prize, which Takagi finally won in 1983 for Hikari idaku tomo yo (To a Friend Embracing the Light), the sensitive depiction of a high school girl’s descent into delinquency. Takagi's main interest lies in exploring the themes of romantic love and interpersonal relationships within a society that is growing increasingly complex. Other major works include Ginga no shizuku (Drops Falling from the Milky Way, 1993) and Tsuta moe (The Burning Vine, 1994). (Mark Jewel, jlit.net)

*Yū Miri 柳美里 (1968- ): Novelist. Born in Yokohama. Because she was Korean and because of her difficult home life, Yu was often ostracized and victimized by other children at school. Her parents separated when she was a teenager; she repeatedly tried to commit suicide and was eventually expelled from high school. While working as an actress, Yu turned to writing plays and found that distilling her past through writing could help her come to terms with her pain. Besides Kazoku shinema her publications included nine plays, an autobiography, and an additional novel. Each of her works was unsparing in its depiction of destructive family relationships in which individuals were unable to communicate or connect with others. Even after receiving a top Japanese literary prize, Yu continued to feel uncomfortable as a non-Japanese in Japan. Though Kazoku shinema was written in Japanese, Yu was enthusiastically embraced in South Korea after her novel was translated into Korean. The book’s publication turned up the heat on the simmering Korean-Japanese ethnic stew, however. Kazoku shinema became a best-seller in Japan but was vehemently attacked by members of the conservative press, who felt that Yu had portrayed the Japanese as fools in her novel. Her defenders argued that such critics did not like Yu simply because she was Korean. Yu then began receiving death threats. In February as she prepared to hold a book signing in Japan, a right-wing terrorist threatened to bomb the event. Although her writing was not overtly political, Yu felt that the threat to her freedom of speech forced her to take a political stand by proceeding with the book signing, which was eventually held in Tokyo in June with 24 police officers and security guards to protect her. (Encyclopædia Britannica)

*Wataya Risa 綿矢りさ (1984- ): Writer who in 2004 became the youngest-ever recipient of the Akutagawa Prize, Japan’s most prestigious literary award. Wataya debuted as an author at age 17 with Insutôru (2001; Install; film 2004), for which she won the 2001 Bungei literary prize. The novel depicted a troubled high-school girl’s experience with the erotic world of adults through Internet chat rooms. Wataya went on to attend Waseda University, studying Japanese literature and education. Her second novel, Keritai senaka (roughly, “The Back I Want to Kick”), was released when she was a third-year university student. It vividly portrays the self-consciousness and alienation that a girl in her first year of high school experiences. The teen struggles to relate to her peers and develops a love-hate relationship with a male classmate who is a loner. In early 2004 Wataya shared the Akutagawa Prize with Hitomi Kanehara; the award was given to Wataya—who, at 19, became the first teenage recipient of the award—for Keritai senaka. The two young women created a media sensation in Japan for their ability to capture the perspectives of a generation coming of age after the bursting of the country’s “bubble economy” of the 1980s. When the literary magazine Bungei shunjū featured both novels in 2004, it sold more than 1.1 million copies, breaking its previous sales record. Nevertheless, the awarding of the Akutagawa Prize to these two young women was the subject of much debate in Japan. Many critics hailed the depictions of troubled youth in a changing social milieu, but others saw the award as an effort to boost sales by selecting attractive young writers who explored shocking themes at a time when the book industry was struggling. (Encyclopædia Britannica)

*Tanabe Seiko 田辺聖子 (1928- ): Novelist. Writer. Active in a wide range of fields, including novels, essays and modern translations of works in classical Japanese. Recipient of the July 1963 Akutagawa Award for Senchimentaru Jaani ( Sentimental Journey ) in 1964. Included among many other awards received are [the Yoshikawa Eiji Literature Prize], [the Kikuchi Kan Prize] and [the Women's Literature Award]. A television series of Ms. Tanabe's novel Imotakonankin , which is based on her own life, is to be aired on the NHK network from October 2006 to March 2007. (city.amagasaki.hyogo.jp)

*Shiroishi Kazuko 白石かずこ (1931- ): Poet, novelist, and columnist. Member of modern poetry group VOU, led by Kitazono Katsue. Her recitings are often accompanied by jazz music.

*Mizumura Minae 水村美苗: Novelist. Minae Mizumura attended high school and college in the United States before returning to Japan to begin writing in Japanese. Among her works are Light and Darkness Continued, I-Novel from Left to Right, and A Real Novel, which retold Wuthering Heights in postwar Japan. She has taught at Princeton University, the University of Michigan, and Stanford University. (pen.org) Nihongo ga horobiru toki; feminist reading Meian the sequel

*Yang Yi: Novelist from China. Winner of Akutagawa prize.

*Ishikawa Mina 石川美南 (): Poet.

*Teshigahara Hiroshi 勅使河原宏 (1927-2001): Director. One of the most acclaimed Japanese directors of all time, Hiroshi Teshigahara distinguished himself in the sixties with a series of sinuous, atmospheric, and daring films. Teshigahara found his spiritual partner in novelist and screenwriter Kobo Abe, with whom he collaborated on these Kafkaesque portraits of identities in peril, films that captivated mainstream audiences while also touching the edges of the Japanese avant-garde. The existential ghost story Pitfall (Otoshiana), the shocking, erotic fable Woman in the Dunes (Sunna no onna), and the sci-fi–tinged nightmare The Face of Another (Tanin no kao) are among cinema’s enduring enigmas and rarest pleasures. (criterion.com)

*Ozu Yasujirou 小津安二郎 (1903-1963): Yasujiro Ozu has often been called the “most Japanese” of Japan’s great directors. From 1927, the year of his debut for Shochiku studios, to 1962, when, a year before his death at age sixty, he made his final film, Ozu consistently explored the rhythms and tensions of a country trying to reconcile modern and traditional values, especially as played out in relations between the generations. Though he is best known for his sobering 1953 masterpiece Tokyo Story, the apex of his portrayals of the changing Japanese family, Ozu began his career in the thirties, in a more comedic, though still socially astute, mode, with such films as I Was Born, But . . . and Dragnet Girl. He then gradually mastered the domestic drama during the war years and afterward, employing both physical humor, as in Good Morning, and distilled drama, as in Late Spring, Early Summer, and Floating Weeds. Though Ozu was discovered relatively late in the Western world, his trademark rigorous style—static shots, often from the vantage point of someone sitting low on a tatami mat; patient pacing; moments of transcendence as represented by the isolated beauty of everyday objects—has been enormously influential among directors seeking a cinema of economy and poetry. (criterion.com)

*Kurosawa Akira 黒澤明 (1910-1998): Arguably the most celebrated Japanese filmmaker of all time, Akira Kurosawa had a career that spanned from the Second World War to the early nineties and that stands as a monument of artistic, entertainment, and personal achievement. His best-known films remain his samurai epics Seven Samurai and Yojimbo, but his intimate dramas, such as Ikiru and High and Low, are just as searing. The first serious phase of Kurosawa’s career came during the postwar era, with Drunken Angel and Stray Dog, gritty dramas about people on the margins of society that featured the first notable appearances by Toshiro Mifune, the director’s longtime leading man. Kurosawa would subsequently gain international fame with Rashomon, a breakthrough in nonlinear narrative and sumptuous visuals. Following a personal breakdown in the late sixties, Kurosawa rebounded by expanding his dark brand of humanism into new stylistic territory, with films such as Kagemusha and Ran, visionary, color, epic ruminations on modern man and nature. (criterion.com)

*Ichikawa Kon 市川崑 (1915-2008): Ichikawa is one of the better known Japanese film directors and one of the most unpredictable. He gained his western credibility in the 1950s and 1960s with a number of bleak films - two antiwar films with The Burmese Harp and Fires on the Plain, Conflagration in which a priest burns down his temple to save it from spiritual pollution, Alone in the Pacific and the technically formidable An Actor's Revenge about a Kabuki actor. Many of his films are literary adaptations, works including Tanizaki Junichiro's The Key (1959) and The Makioka Sisters (1983), Natsume Soseki's Kokoro (1955) and I Am a Cat (1965), and Mishima Yukio's The Temple of the Golden Pavilion (as Enjo (1958)). His films were often screen-written by his wife, Natto Wada, and when she ceased this activity at the end of the 1960s it marked a change in his films. It can be said that his main trait is technical expertise, irony, detachment and a drive for realism married with a complete spectrum of genres. Some critics class him with Akira Kurosawa, Kenji Mizoguchi and Yasujiro Ozu as one of the masters of Japanese cinema. (biographybase.com)

*Mizoguchi Kenji 溝口健二 (1898-1956): Over the course of a three-decade, more than eighty film career, master cineaste Kenji Mizoguchi (Ugetsu, Sansho the Bailiff) would return again and again to one abiding theme: the plight of women in Japanese society. In these four lacerating works of social consciousness—two prewar (Osaka Elegy, Sisters of the Gion), two postwar (Women of the Night, Street of Shame)—Mizoguchi introduces an array of compelling female protagonists, crushed or resilient, who are forced by their conditions and culture into compromising positions. With Mizoguchi’s visual daring and eloquence, these films are as cinematically thrilling as they are politically rousing. (criterion.com)

*Ōshima Nagisa 大島渚 (1932- ): Nagisa Oshima was the originator and most famous director of the Japanese New Wave. His controversial films are frequently difficult, highly intellectual, and darkly funny; they revolutionized Japanese cinema by infusing it with sex and with biting social and political commentary. [...] While Oshima worked as an assistant director with Masaki Kobayashi and Hideo Oba, he began writing vitriolic film criticism in 1956. He heaped praise on the new, spontaneous style of films from France and Poland , while chiding the slick, Hollywood-inspired productions that his own studio cranked out every month. Because the studio was in the throes of a financial crisis, producer Shiro Kido decided that it needed new blood, and Oshima, Shohei Imamura, Yoshishige Yoshida, and Masahiro Shinoda, were elevated to the rank of director at about the same time. By 1960, when Oshima released his landmark Cruel Story of Youth, Shochiku was marketing these young directors as the Ofuna Nouvelle Vague, a term that Oshima rejected. (NagiOshima.com)

*Gosho Heinosuke 五所 平之助 (1902-1981): Motion-picture director and writer famous for films concerning the everyday lives of middle-class people. He is also noted for adapting Japanese literary works to the screen and for his creative use of silence in sound pictures, subtle pictorial symbols, and rapid sequences of scenes. After graduating from Keio University in Tokyo, he became an assistant director at the Shōchiku Motion Picture Company in Tokyo. Within two years he was an independent director. In 1927, at the age of 25, he directed his first commercial success, Sabishiki ranbo-mono (The Lonely Roughneck).Gosho’s Madamu to nyōbō (The Neighbour’s Wife and Mine, 1931), the first important Japanese talking picture, was a film about the home lives of white-collar workers in which he handled both silence and sound in a truly cinematic manner. After 1950 he helped to raise this genre to its highest expression in pictures that won international recognition at film festivals throughout the world; e.g., Entotsu no miero basho (1953; Where Chimneys Are Seen), Kiiroi karasu (1957; The Yellow Crow), Maria of the Ant Village (1958), and When Woman Loves (1960). He portrayed the hopes and despairs of everyday life with a simplicity of style that made his films realistic statements about life in modern Japan. Throughout his career Gosho translated into the cinematic medium, with artistic results, such Japanese literary works as Ikitoshi ikerumono (1934; Everything That Lives), Ōsaka no yado (1954; An Inn at Osaka), and Take kurabe (1955; Growing Up). (Encyclopædia Britannica)

*Imamura Shōhei 今村昌平 (1926-2006): Film director. First Japanese to receive two Palme d'Or awards. One of Japan's most acclaimed movie directors, Imamura Shohei has a long career behind him. He started out as an assistant to the great Ozu Yasujiro. But as a member of the New Wave, along with Oshima Nagisa, Imamura moved away from his former mentor's quiet understatement and traditional views to establish a style that celebrates the primitive and spontaneous side of the Japanese character. Unhappy with working on films that portrayed the establishment's view of Japan, all kimonos and tea ceremony, he wanted to get to the essence of what it really meant to be Japanese and to show the gritty, animilistic postwar society he saw around him. He described his work saying "I am interested in the relationship of the lower part of the human body and the lower part of the social structure." (Japan-zone.com)

*Itami Juuzō 伊丹十三 (1933-1997): Film director (b. May 15, 1933, Kyoto, Japan--d. Dec. 20, 1997, Tokyo, Japan), created satiric comedies that challenged authority and satirized social conventions and that gained him renown as one of Japan’s greatest film directors. After a successful 20-year career as an actor, Itami directed (1984) his first film, Ososhiki (The Funeral), a black comedy about a family’s squabbles at a funeral; among the film’s targets were the Buddhist monks who exploited the bereaved for financial gain. Itami’s refusal to hold anything sacred was a novelty in Japanese cinema, and the film won great critical and popular acclaim. Next came Tampopo (1986), his best-known film abroad, about the culinary and financial struggles of a noodle-shop proprietor. His other credits include Masura no onna (1987; A Taxing Woman) and Minbo no onna (1992; The Gentle Art of Japanese Extortion). In response to the latter film’s harsh portrayal of the yakuza, Japan’s powerful crime syndicate, five gangsters armed with knives attacked Itami in the street shortly after its release. He was nearly killed and was badly scarred on his face and neck. Itami’s unique films were noted for their contemporary settings and unsentimental comic realism. Most of his films starred his wife, the actress Nobuko Miyamoto. Itami’s death was by suicide; he jumped from the roof of the eight-story building in which his office was located. His suicide was apparently in anticipation of the publication of a tabloid magazine’s story alleging an extramarital affair between himself and a young woman. Itami denied the affair to the magazine’s reporters and again in his suicide note. (Encyclopædia Britannica)

*Takahata Isao 高畑 勲 (1935- ): Anime director. Isao Takahata is a long-time colleague of Miyazaki and another leading head of Studio Ghibli. Unlike Miyazaki, Takahata started his career as a director from the beginning. Born in 1935, he graduated from the most prestigious university in Japan, Tokyo University, and joined the newly founded animation studio Toei Doga in 1959 (an interesting career move, to say the least). He and Miyazaki became friends through the animators' union at Toei Doga, which he vice-chaired and Miyazaki chaired. His first movie, Horus: The Prince of the Sun (1968) is still considered one of the greatest examples of Japanese animation. Miyazaki worked as an animator for this movie, providing numerous ideas. Takahata and Miyazaki continued working as a director-animator team for many great animated masterpieces, including Lupin III, Heidi, 3000 Leagues in Search of Mother, and Anne of Green Gables. When Tokuma approached Miyazaki about making the Nausicaä manga into a movie, the only condition Miyazaki requested was to have Takahata as the producer. This was the first time Takahata worked as a producer but he did a great job. He also produced the next Miyazaki movie, Laputa in 1986, then directed his first Ghibli movie, Grave of the Fireflies in 1988. Since then, he has directed Only Yesterday, Pom Poko, and My Neighbors the Yamadas. Takahata also worked as the music director of Kiki and as the producer of I Can Hear the Sea. (Nausicaa.net)

*Miyazaki Hayao 宮崎駿 (1941- ):Animator and director. Miyazaki started his career in 1963 as an animator at the studio Toei Douga, and was subsequently involved in many early classics of Japanese animation. From the beginning, he commanded attention with his incredible ability to draw, and the seemingly-endless stream of movie ideas he proposed. In 1971, he moved to A Pro with Isao Takahata, then to Nippon Animation in 1973, where he was heavily involved in the World Masterpiece Theater TV animation series for the next five years. In 1978, he directed his first TV series, Conan, The Boy in Future, then moved to Tokyo Movie Shinsha in 1979 to direct his first movie, the classic Lupin III: The Castle of Cagliostro. In 1984, he released Nausicaä of the Valley of Wind, based on the manga of the same title he had started two years before. The success of the film led to the establishment of a new animation studio, Studio Ghibli, at which Miyazaki has since directed, written, and produced many other films with Takahata. All of these films enjoyed critical and box office successes. In particular, Miyazaki's Princess Mononoke received the Japan Academy Award for Best Film and was the highest-grossing (about US$150 million) domestic film in Japan's history until it was taken over by another Miyazaki work, Spirited Away. In addition to animation, Miyazaki also draws manga. His major work was the Nausicaä manga, an epic tale he worked on intermittently from 1982 to 1994 while he was busy making animated films. Another manga, Hikoutei Jidai, was later evolved into his 1992 film Porco Rosso. (Nausicaa.net)

*Ōtsuka Yasuo 大塚康生 (1931- ): Animator. Otsuka first got into drawing when he was a little kid and saw trains carrying off soldiers to the war. He got so enamoured of trains that he would keep drawing them with greator detail as he aged. This led to a later facination with machinery that is pervasive throughout much of his anime work. When he was young he strived to become a political cartoonist, but first worked as a bureaucrat until falling very ill. During his time in the hospital Otsuka went through a psychological transformation and after his release from the hospital encountered a newspaper ad that was looking for an animator for the then new Toei animation. Otsuka took the offer and passed a test that Toei's head animator Yasuji Mori administered to all applicants. He was one of the Toei animators involved in experimenting with frame modulation in animation. This experimentation lead to what is commonly called the "money shot" style, where more important scenes are animated more fully than others. In addition he was a mentor to both Hayao Miyazaki and Isao Takahata and worked with them on many of their early projects. He was offered several times to direct, but refused, possibly due to the difficulties he saw Isao Takahata encounter during the production of Horus: Prince of the Sun. Though his own description that he stated in a documentary about him is that he was in awe of Takahata's ablities as a director in Horus, so much an awe that he felt inadequate in comparison. Otsuka is currently running a school for animators in Japan, recently Studio Ghibli produced a documentary about the animator titled Yasuo Otsuka's Joy of Animating. (Allexperts.com)

*Urasawa Naoki 浦沢直樹 (1960- ): Manga artist. A native of Tokyo who graduated from Meisei University in economics. Debuted with BETA!! in 1983, winning support for Western-style draftsmanship and skillful plotting. The immensely popular YAWARA series won the Shōgakukan Manga Prize in 1990. MONSTER was awarded the Tezuka Osamu Cultural Prize in 1999. (Mark Jewel, jlit.net)

*Tezuka Osamu 手塚治虫 (1928-1989): Manga artist, animator, producer and medical doctor, although he never practiced medicine. Born in Osaka Prefecture, he is best known as the creator of Astro Boy and Kimba the White Lion. He is often credited as the "Father of Anime," and is often considered the Japanese equivalent to Walt Disney, who served as a major inspiration during his formative years. His prolific output, pioneering techniques, and innovative redefinitions of genres earned him such titles as "the father of manga" and "the God of Manga." (Goodreads.com)

II. Publishing Companies ・ Newspapers ・ Journals and Magazines

Meiji (1868-1912) and Taishō (1912-1925) Eras

Publishing Companies

*Shun'yōdō 春陽堂 (1878-present): prominent journal started in early Meiji; along with other major publishing companies helped to usher in Japan's mass-media age and end dōjin zasshi; launches its own zenshū (Meiji Taishō bungaku zenshū (1927-1932) after Kaizōsha starts trend;

*Shinchōsha 新潮社 (1896- ): publishing company founded by Satō Giryō (first as Shinseisha; becomes Shinchōsha in 1904); first mag called Shinsei; Shinchōbunko established in 1915; publishes variety of mags; first to include world literature in enpon form; Sekaibungaku zenshū (1927-1930);

*Shinseisha 新声社 (1889-1906): publishing company and group founded by Mori Ōgai; later changed to Shinchōsha 新潮社 in 1904.

*Kōdansha 講談社 (1909-present): Publishing company founded by Noma Seiji.

*Iwanami Shoten 岩浪書店 (1913- ): Publishing company founded in 1913 by Iwanami Shigeo. The Iwanami Bunko 岩波文庫 project started in 1927.

*Meirokusha 明六社 (1874-1900): Intellectual society in Meiji Japan. Proposed by statesman Mori Arinori in 1873 and officially formed in 1874, the Meirokusha was intended to “promote civilization and enlightenment,” and to introduce western ethics and the elements of western civilization to Japan. It played a prominent role in introducing and popularizing Western ideas during the early Meiji period, through public lectures and through its journal, the Meiroku zasshi. Mori had been impressed by the activities of American educational societies during his stint (1871-1873) as Japan's first envoy to the U.S. He was also influenced by Horace Mann's views on universal education. (answers.com)

*Shūeisha 集英社 (1925-present): Publishing company which began as the entertainment-related division of Shōgakukan.

Newspapers

*Tōkyo Nichi nichi shimbun (1872-1943): Reputed to be Japan's first newspaper; pro-government (Chōshū faction) newspaper; Ōgai hired in 1915 to serve as resident writer, to counter Sōseki at Asahi; in 1911, it merged with Osaka Shimbun to produce Mainichi Shimbun, though the two were published independently until 1943.

*Tōkyo Mainichi Shimbun （東京）毎日新聞 (1872- ): Originally called the Tōkyo Nichi nichi shimbun, it was first called Tōkyo Mainichi Shimbun when it merged with Ōsaka Mainichi Shimbun in 1943.

*Ōsaka Mainichi Shimbun 大阪毎日新聞 (1876- ):

*Yomiuri Shimbun 読売新聞 (1874- ): Japanese national daily newspaper, the largest in circulation and the most sensational in editorial style of Japan’s “big three” dailies. Yomiuri was founded in 1874, one of five new dailies created early in the Meiji period (1868–1912) to meet the need for a vernacular newspaper in the rapidly modernizing society of Japan. Yomiuri (“selling by reading”) was the practice of news vendors of the Tokugawa period (1603–1867), who hawked newssheets, printed from hand-graven blocks before the advent of movable type, by reading them aloud. Like its more sedate rivals Asahi and Mainichi, Yomiuri has five regional morning and evening editions plus an English-language edition in Tokyo. Yomiuri was consciously influenced by the journalistic style of the American papers of William Randolph Hearst, Sr., in the early decades of the 20th century. The paper’s main appeal is to working-class readers. The paper also established the first professional baseball team in Japan (now called the Yomiuri Giants), which helped to increase its circulation. (Encyclopedia Britannica) important in Meiji lit; Tsubouchi Shōyō appointed literary editor in 1887 (bundan thought to begin here); feudalistic autocrat of bundan Ozaki Kōyō followed as editor until his death in 1903 (Marcus, 36); dedicated most space to literature (Fowler, 135)

*Jiji shimpō 時事新報 (1882-1936): Newspaper founded by Fukuzawa Yukichi; neutral; first to carry business ads (?); signed contract with Reuters in 1893;

*Tōkyo Asahi shimbun (1879- ): Nationwide Japanese daily newspaper, one of the “big three” in influence and circulation, printed in Tokyo, Ōsaka, and several other regional centres and also as an English-language-edition daily in Tokyo. Founded in Ōsaka in 1879, Asahi has been in the hands of the Murayama and Ueno families since 1881. Asahi is particularly noted for its political coverage and its foreign news. The paper is known for its liberal and progressive views. It has correspondents in major cities in Europe, Asia, and the U.S. and subscribes to more than 20 international news services. Like the other two major Japanese newspapers, Yomiuri and Mainichi, Asahi publishes a much greater proportion of foreign news than is usual in the West. Its daily circulation of morning and evening editions is one of the largest in the world, with more than 12 million subscribers by the turn of the 21st century. The main readership of the Asahi is drawn from the upper and middle classes. (Encyclopedia Britannica) neutral; Sōseki quits professorship to become staff novelist in 1907;

*Yorozu Chōhō 萬朝報 (1892-1940): liberal, "neutral" popular Tokyo-based newspaper founded by Kuroiwa Ruikō; Uchimura Kanzō, Kōtoku Shūsui, Sakai Toshihiko among contributors before 1903, when they resigned in protest to the anti-Russian turn they felt the paper took;

*Keizai Ōrai 経済往来 ():

Journals and Magazines

*Seiyō zasshi 西洋雑誌 (1867- ): first magazine in Japan

*Meiroku zasshi 明六雑誌 (1874-1876?): first all-around general magazine; the leading journal of the Meiji bunmeikaika (civilization and enlightenment); published by Meirokusha in 43 issues; along with writings of Fukuzawa Yukichi had huge impact on first Meiji generation;

*Bungakukai 文学界 (1893(5?)-1898): lit. magazine of great prestige in Meiji, launched by Tōkoku and Tōson. First four issues published by Jogaku zasshi-ha; also featured writers Ueda Bin, Togawa Shūkotsu, Hirata Tokuboku, Chogyū; Romanticism; continued in 1937 (??)

*Waseda Bungaku 早稲田文学 (1891-present, with interruptions): literary magazine founded by Tsubouchi Shōyō, who served as first editor; had many phases;

*Bungei Kurabu 文芸倶楽部 (1895-1933): literary journal that published works by Izumi Kyōka, Kosugi Tengai, Kawakami Bizan, Edogawa Rampo. Transforms into popular magazine in 1907. Found great success in 1895 and 1896 with the publication of works by keishū sakka Higuchi Ichiyō, Wakamatsu Shizuko, Koganei Kimiko, etc; published by Hakubunkan.

*Shintaishi-shō 新体詩抄 (1882): “Selection of Poems in the New Style”; Longfellow, Tennyson, Shakespeare, some originals.

*Nihonjin 日本人 (1887- ): nationalist magazine published by the Seikyōsha group led by Miyake Setsurei; purpose of magazine: kokusui hozon; becomes chief editor in 1907 when magazine changes name to Nihon oyobi nihonjin;

*Edo Murasaki (1890): 12 issues.

*Shigarami-zōshi しがらみ草紙 (1889-1894): literary magazine founded by Ōgai and his Shinseisha group. Heavy German-influence; rivalry with Waseda Bungaku (and its ally to some extent, Kenyūsha);

*Eisei zasshi 衛星雑誌 (1899- ): Ōgai's medical journal

*Mesamashi-gusa めさまし草 (1896-1902): founded and edited by Ōgai after his return from Sino-Japanese war; Shiragami-zōshi’s successor; publishes literary and critical works, essays on philosophy of art, etc.

*Mannensō 万年草 (1902-1904): Ōgai's other literary journal, largely an outlet for his translations.

*Kabuki 歌舞伎 (1905-1915): another journal founded by Ōgai and his brother Miki Takeji

*Bungeikai 文芸界 (1905?- ): edited by Ueda Bin;

*Jidai Shichō 時代思潮 (1904?- ): ？

*Heimin Shimbun 平民新聞 (1904-1907): Socialist organ of the Heiminsha group and published out of Gakushūin; Kōtoku Shūsui among editors; banned in 1907, moves underground;

*Shumi 趣味 (1906- ): magazine for the cultivation of taste, founded by Tsubouchi Shōyō; featured articles on a variety of subjects, from traditional arts to European culture to home economics, etc.

*Bunshō sekai 文章世界 (1906-1920): journalist-influenced popular bundan journal of late Meiji and Taishō periods, published by Hakubunkan; Tayama Katai serves as first editor from 1906-1912; carries Naturalist and other "serious" literature; changes name to Shinbungaku in late 1920, before going under in 1921.

*Taiyō (1894-1928): Japanese sōgō zasshi magazine published by Hakubunkan as a consolidation of numerous previous magazines. It is especially known for its literary criticism, Japanese literature, and translations of Western authors. Although Taiyō treated various practical, intellectual, and aesthetic subjects, its literary editors Takayama Chogyū (1871–1902) and Hasegawa Tenkei (1876–1940) were especially instrumental in popularizing the literature of late Romanticism and naturalism, both from abroad (in translations of such writers as Edgar Allan Poe, Gustave Flaubert, Guy de Maupassant, Mark Twain, Maurice Maeterlinck, and Leo Tolstoy) and at home (in such fiction writers as the naturalists Tokuda Shūsei, Tayama Katai, and Shimazaki Tōson). When naturalism faded, the magazine also faded in importance. (Encyclopedia Britannica).

*Myōjō 明星 (1900-1908; 1921-27; 1947-49): was the title of a monthly literary magazine first published in Japan between February 1900 and November 1908. The name Myōjō can be translates as either Bright Star or Morning Star. It was the organ of a poetry circle called Shinshisha (New Poetry Society) which had been founded by Yosano Tekkan in 1899. Myōjō was initially known for its development and promotion of a modernized version of the 31-syllable tanka poetry. Famous contributors such as Yosano Akiko transformed the traditional poetry with a sensual style in the romantic movement. Other important contributors included Hagiwara Sakutaro, Ishikawa Takuboku, Iwano Homei, Kitahara Hakushu, Noguchi Yonejiro, Kinoshita Rigen, and Sato Haruo. The magazine was advised by Mori Ogai, Ueda Bin, and Baba Kocho, with Yosano Tekkan remaining as editor-in-chief of the publication. Myōjō gradually transformed itself from purely tanka poetry, to a sophisticated journal promoting the visual arts and western style poetry as well. It is regarded as having a crucial influence on the development of Japanese poetry and literature in the early 20th century. Myōjō was short lived, as internal dissention dissolved the Shinshisha literary circle. Many of its original members helped create a successor literary journal, Subaru (The Pleiades). Myōjō was revived from 1921-1927 by Tekkan, and again from 1947-1949. (Answers.com) associated with romantically inclined Araragi group;

*Hōki (broom): founded by Jinzai Hiroshi with Takeyama Michio and Hori Tatsuo;

*Negisha Tanka Kai (1899-): tanka journal; Negisha-ha tanka reform group (aka Nippon-ha?) began to meet at Masaoka Shiki's house in Negishi in 1898; Saitō Mokichi, Itō Sachio also associated with group; (not to be confused with Rohan, Kōson, and Shiken's Negisha group);

*Araragi (1903- ): The dominant group in tanka until the postwar period. Members included Masoka Shiki and his student Itō Sachio, who started a magazine of the same name in 1903.

*Hotogisu Haiku kai ():

*Jitsugyō no nihon 実業の日本 (1897- ): Japan's first business magazine

*Akane:

*Subaru すばる (Pleiades) (1909-present, with interruptions): succeeded 明星; center of bundan; promotes aestheticism and avant-gardism in poetry and prose; against "debasement" of literature by Naturalists

*Shin nihonshugi 新日本主義 (1916- ): nationalist magazine founded by Iwano Hōmei for the purpose of explaining Shinto to the public;

*Tanemaku hito (1921-1923): started by group of leftist intellectuals led by Komaki Oumi; Japanese Communist Party formed following year; under great pressure magazine folds, reappears as Bungei sensen in 1924 (Iida, 31);

*The Eastern Buddhist (1921-present): The Eastern Buddhist carries articles on all aspects of Buddhism as well as English translations of classical Buddhist texts and works by modern Buddhist thinkers. This unique journal was begun in 1921 under the editorship of D.T.Suzuki. Although its publication was interrupted by World War Two, The Eastern Buddhist (New Series) was revived in 1965. After Suzuki's death in 1966, the journal was continued under the editorship of Nishitani Keiji (1900-1990), Abe Masao (1915-2006), and other scholars. From 1998 to 2005 Nagao Gadjin (1907-2005) served as the editor. (The Eastern Buddhist Society)

*Kindai bungaku 近代文学 (1946-1964): founded by those who, while sympathetic to leftist causes, still gave primacy to shutaisei over party line: Honda Shūgo, Hirano Ken, Odagiri Hideo; reacts against Kurahara Korehito's and Nakano Shigeharu's "objectivist" communism;

*Kannen shōsetsu 観念小説: “novel of ideas,” first used for novels of 1890s.

*Ninjō shōsetsu 人情小説:

*Re’ai shōsetsu 恋愛小説:

*Hisan shōsetsu 悲惨小説:

*Fūfu shōsetsu 夫婦小説:

*Fūkei shōsetsu 風景小説:

*Jidai shōsetsu 時代小説:

*Seiji shōsetsu 政治小説:

*Tsūjō shōsetsu: 通常小説:

*Kyōyō shōsetsu 教養小説:

*Geijutsuka shōsetsu 芸術家小説:

*Shinkoku shōsetsu 深刻小説: “Profound novels.”

*Shishōsetsu 私小説: "I novel." Form or genre of 20th-century Japanese literature that is characterized by self-revealing narration, with the author usually as the central character. The I novel grew out of the naturalist movement that dominated Japanese literature during the early decades of the 20th century. The term is used to describe two different types of novel, the confessional novel (characterized by prolonged, often self-abasing, revelation) and the “mental attitude” novel (in which the writer probes innermost thoughts or attitudes toward everyday events in life). Notable I novelists of the first type include Kasai Zenzō, Kamura Isota, and Uno Kōji; writers of the latter type, headed by Shiga Naoya, include Amino Kiku, Takii Kōsaku, and Ozaki Kazuo. (Encyclopædia Britannica) Term first used in 20s-- used ironically in Uno Kōji's 1920 story "Amaki yo no hanashi")

*Ichininshō shōsetsu 一人称小説:

*Jijoden shōsetsu 自叙伝小説:

*Kokuhaku shōsetsu 告白小説:

*Moderu shōsetsu モデル小説:

*Jiko shōsetsu (or jijo/jibun shōsetsu) 自己（自序・自分）小説:

*Shinpen zakki shōsetsu 身辺雑記小説: pieces in note form on the immediate surroundings;

*Hedo shōsetsu へど小説: derisive term for novels in which the author describes his own embarrassing experiences; 1 of 3 types of novel according to 1920 Jiji shinpō article (together with Nagasaki and Taiko shōsetsu.

*Chūkan shōsetsu 中間小説: "middle-brow novels"; type of short novel developed and promoted by Kume and Masao after WWII. Popularized by Hayashi Fusao, Inoue Yasushi, Ishizaki Yōjirō;

*Seishun shōsetsu 青春小説:

*Bokuken shōsetsu ？小説

*Gensō shōsetsu 幻想小説:

*Kaiki shōsetsu 怪奇小説

*Jidō shōsetsu 児童小説:

*Tanbi shōsetsu 耽美小説:

*Mo-dan shōsetsu モダン小説:

*Te-ma shōsetsu テーマ小説:

*Keitai shōsetsu 携帯小説:

*Shōjo shōsetsu 少女小説:

IV. Famous Literary Ronsō

Meiji and Taishō Eras

*Bungaku gokusui ronsō 文学極衰論争 (188?): Ozaki Kōyō and Shimada Saburō attack Shōyō's "novel of feelings" as base. More heroes and more didacticism! (Leads to Yano Ryūkei's heroic tale Ukishiro monogatari, which is criticized by Ishibashi Ningetsu and Ishida Roan for being "too heroic and remote" (Murakami, Ideology and Narrative in Modern Japanese Literature). Doppo and (eventually, albeit ambiguously) Tōkoku on kindaibungaku side (anti-heroic/pro-feeling) with Ningetsu and Roan (as opposed to kaikabungaku of Ozaki/Shimada/Yano/Aizan).

*Maihime ronsō 舞姫論争 (1890): Dispute between Ishibashi Ningetsu and Mori Ōgai about whether or not the story is a critique of the protagonist (Toyotarō), who chooses his own career over the girl he loves.

*Jinsei sōshō ronsō 人生相渉論争 (1893): Debate between Tōkoku and Aizan on relation between self and others in literature.

*Shakai shōsetsu ronsō 社会小説論争 (1895-1898):

*Bitekiseikatsu ronsō 美的生活論争 (1901): begins with Takayama Chogyū's call for individualism and the aesthetic life in his essay "Biteki seikatsu o ronzu" (1902). Hasegawa Tenkei counters, pointing out the inconsistencies in his argument (duty of literature: genjitsu o bakuro! (1908))

*Shi- (shinkyō) shōsetsu ronsō 私（心境）小説 (1924-1925): Kume Masao vs. Ikuta Chōkō and Nakamura Murao. Begins with article ("Honkaku shōsetsu to shinkyō shōsetsu to," Shinshōsetsu) by Nakamura Murao in which he contrasts the two types of narrative: honkaku shōsetsu (superior form exemplified in Tolstoy) and shinkyō shōsetsu (native, inferior phenomenon, broader in scope as it contains within it shinkyō shōsetsu). Ikuta Chōkō agrees, arguing for universality over particularity ("Nichijō seikatsu o henjū suru akukeikō" (Shinchō, 1924). Responding to both Nakamura and Chōkō, Kume Masao defends the shinkyō shōsetsu as the true and superior form of novel in his article "Shishōsetsu to shinkyōshōsetsu" (1925, Bungei kōza). According to him, the supposedly superior honkaku shōsetsu are no more than yomimono. The self is the basis of all literature, and all that matters is sincerity! he argues. Uno Kōji weighs in on Kume's side, claiming Japanese are incapable of writing a honkaku shōsetsu anyway.

*Akutagawa Ryūnosuke Shō 芥川龍之介賞 (1935-present): Japan's most prestigious literary award. Established in 1935 by Kikuchi Kan, the editor of Bungei Shunjū magazine, in memory of novelist Akutagawa Ryūnosuke; sponsored by the Association for the Promotion of Japanese Literature (Nihon Bungaku Shinkō Kai). Awarded semiannually in January and July to the best short story of a purely literary nature published in a newspaper or magazine by a new or rising author. The winner receives a pocket watch and a cash award of 1 million yen, along with considerable attention from the media. (Mark Jewel, jlit.net)

*Naoki Sanjūgo Shō 直木三十五 (1935-present): Established at the same time as the Akutagawa Prize (1935) by Kikuchi Kan, the editor of Bungei Shunjū magazine, in memory of novelist Naoki Sanjūgo. Awarded semiannually to the best work of popular literature in any format by a new, rising, or (reasonably young) established author. Sponsored by the Society for the Promotion of Japanese Literature (Nihon Bungaku Shinkō Kai); the winner receives a watch and a cash award of 1 million yen. (Mark Jewel, jlit.net)

*Kikuchi Kan Shō 菊池寛賞 (1938-present): Originally established as a literary award in 1938; revived in 1953 to commemorate the varied accomplishments of novelist and playwright Kikuchi Hiroshi (Kikuchi Kan). Awarded annually to individuals and organizations who in the previous year have demonstrated notable innovation and creativity in any sphere of cultural activity, including literature, film, drama, journalism, broadcasting, and publishing. Sponsored by the Association for the Promotion of Japanese Literature (Nihon Bungaku Shinkō Kai); winners receive a table clock and a cash award of 1 million yen. (Mark Jewel, jlit.net)

*Noma Bungei Shō 野間文芸賞 (1941-present): Established in 1941 by the Noma Service Association (Noma Hōkō Kai), an organization formed in accordance with the last wishes of Noma Seiji (1878-1938), founder and first president of the Kōdansha publishing company. Awarded annually to an outstanding new work in one of a variety of literary genres (including nonfiction) published between October and the following September. The winner receives a commemorative plaque and a cash award of 3 million yen. (Mark Jewel, jlit.net)

*Yomiuri Bungaku Shō 読売文学賞 (1948-present): First established in 1948 by the Yomiuri Shimbun Company with the aim of building a "cultural nation" (bunka kokka). In the first two years awards were given to works in four categories (novels and plays, poetry, criticism, and scholarly studies). This became five categories in 1950 when the prize was reorganized to accord independent status to plays, and then in 1966 a further reshuffle resulted in a total of six major categories: novels, plays, essays and travel journals, criticism and biography, poetry, and academic studies and translation. Winners receive a commemorative inkstone and a cash award of 1 million yen. (Mark Jewel, jlit.net)

*H-shi Shō H 氏賞 (1951-present): Established in 1951 by the Association of Contemporary Japanese Poets (Nihon Gendaishijin Kai) with the aim of according recognition to an outstanding anthology of poetry published during the previous year by a new poet. Cash awards (currently 500,000 yen) are awarded from a fund established by Hirasawa Teijirō, who until 1960 remained anonymous as the award's benefactor. (Mark Jewel, jlit.net)

*Bungakukai Shinjin Shō 文学界新人賞 (1955-present): Established in 1955 by the Bungei Shunjū publishing company for the purpose of recognizing promising new writers. Previously unpublished manuscripts are solicited twice a year for the award, with the winning entry appearing in Bungakukai magazine. The winner receives a commemorative gift and a cash award of 500,000 yen. (Mark Jewel, jlit.net)

*Gendai Kajin Kyōkai Shō 現代歌人協会賞 (1956-present): Established in 1956 by the Association of Contemporary Tanka Poets to promote the development (kōjōhatten) of tanka poetry. Awarded annually to a collection of tanka by a new poet. The winner receives a cash award of 100,000 yen. (Mark Jewel, jlit.net)

*Joryū Bungaku Shō 女流文学賞 (1961-present): Established in 1961 to encourage the production of literary works by women; sponsored by the Chūō Kōronsha publishing company. Awarded annually to the best work of fiction by a woman. The winner receives a commemorative plaque and a cash award of 1 million yen. (Mark Jewel, jlit.net)

*Dazai Osamu Shō 太宰治賞 (1965-present): Established in 1965 by the Chikuma Shobō publishing company the year after it revived the magazine Tenbō (first published in 1946), to which Dazai had contributed such stories as "Villon's Wife." Awarded annually to an outstanding, previously unpublished short story by an unrecognized author appearing in a coterie magazine. The precarious financial status of Chikuma Shobō forced it to abandon the award after its 14th presentation in 1978, but it was revived in 1999 when the city of Mitaka offered to co-sponsor it. The winner receives a commemorative gift and a cash award of 1 million yen. (Mark Jewel, jlit.net)

*Yoshikawa Eiji Bungaku Shō 吉川英治文学賞 (1967-present): Established in 1967, along with the Yoshikawa Eiji Prize for Culture, by the Yoshikawa Eiji Citizens' Cultural Promotion Association (Yoshikawa Eiji Kokumin Bunka Shinkō Kai) to commemorate the work of novelist Yoshikawa Eiji. The prize is awarded annually to an outstanding work in a variety of literary genres based on initial recommendations submitted by several hundred professionals working in the arts, media, and other fields. The winner receives a commemorative plaque and a cash award of 3 million yen. (Mark Jewel, jlit.net)

*Chōkū Shō 迢空賞 (1967-present): Established in 1967 by the Kadokawa Shoten publishing company in memory of waka poet Orikuchi Nobuo (who used the pen name Shaku Chōkū). It is currently considered the most prestigious prize in the field of waka poetry. Since 1976, the prize has been sponsored by the Kadokawa Foundation for the Promotion of Culture (Kadokawa Bunka Shinkō Zaidan). In addition to a certificate and commemorative gift, the winner receives a cash award of 500,000 yen. (Mark Jewel, jlit.net)

*Noma Honyaku Shō 野間翻訳賞 ( - ): given by Kōdansha;

*Geijutsu Senshō 芸術選奨 (1950- ): Art prize awarded by the Monbushō

*Tanizaki Jun'ichirō Shō 谷崎潤一郎賞 (1965-present): Established in 1965 by the Chūō Kōronsha publishing company to commemorate its 80th anniversary. Awarded annually to the year's most "representative" work of fiction or drama by any professional writer. The winner receives a commemorative plaque and a cash award of 1 million yen. (Mark Jewel, jlit.net)

*Tamura-shō 田村賞: Tamura Toshiko prize for literature.

*Ōe Kenzaburō Shō (2006- ): Literary prize established by Kōdansha in commemoration of Kōdansha's 100th anniversaty and the 50th anniversary of years of Ōe's career as a writer.

*Takami Jun Shō 高見順賞(1967-present): Established in 1967 by the (Association for the Promotion of Literature by Takami Jun (Takami Jun Bungaku Shinkō Kai) in accordance with Takami's last wishes (Takami died in 1965). A portion of Takami's royalties was set aside to start a fund that is now used to present an annual award to an outstanding collection of poetry based upon the recommendations of poets, critics, and journalists. The winner receives a commemorative gift and a cash award of 500,000 yen. (Mark Jewel, jlit.net)

*Ōya Sōichi Nonfikushon Shō 大宅 壮一ノンフィクション賞 (1969-present): Established in 1969 by the Society for the Promotion of Japanese Literature (Nihonbungaku Shinkō Kai) in recognition of the formative role played by Ōya in virtually all facets of Japanese mass communication. The prize serves as a professional starting point for outstanding new writers of all types of nonfiction. The winner receives a cash award of 1 million yen. (Mark Jewel, jlit.net)

*Izumi Kyōka Shō 泉鏡花賞 (1973-present): Established in 1973 by the city of Kanazawa to commemorate the 100th anniversary of the birth of novelist Izumi Kyōka and to draw attention to the traditions and natural setting of the Kanazawa area. Awarded annually to a single-volume work of belles-lettres published between August and the following July that demonstrates a notably "romantic" quality. Recommendations are solicited from close to 200 writers, critics, publishers, and newspapers, but the final decision is made by a five-member selection committee. The winner receives a mirror and a cash award of 1 million yen. (Mark Jewel, jlit.net)

*Hirabayashi Taiko Bungaku Shō 平林たい子文学賞 (1973- ):

*Kawabata Yasunari Bungaku Shō 川端康成文学賞 (1973-present): Established in 1973 by the Kawabata Yasunari Memorial Association (Kawabata Yasunari Kinen Kai) to honor Japan's first Nobel Prize-winning novelist. The Nobel Prize award money was used to finance the Kawabata Prize, which is presented annually to the year's "most accomplished" (kanseido no takai) work of short fiction. The numbering of the award was restarted in 2000 to commemorate the 100th anniversary of Kawabata's birth. The winner receives a certificate, a commemorative gift, and a cash award of 1 million yen. (Mark Jewel, jlit.net)

*Subaru Bungaku Shō すばる文学賞 (1977-present): Established in 1977 by the Shūeisha publishing company to promising new writers of fiction. Applicants are encouraged to submit "ambitious" works that deal with contemporary themes in an original manner. Winners receive a commemorative gift and a cash award of 1 million yen; winning stories are published in the November issue of Subaru magazine. (Mark Jewel, jlit.net)

*Yokomizo Seishi Shō 横溝正史賞 (1980-present): Established in 1980 under the sponsorship of the Kadokawa Shoten publishing company and the Tokyo Broadcasting System (TBS) in honor of detective-fiction writer Yokomizo Seishi (1902-1981). Awarded annually to a previously unpublished novel-length mystery (broadly interpreted to include a variety of subgenres). The winner receives a statuette in the shape of fictional detective Kindaichi Kōsuke and a cash award of 10 million yen(!). In addition, the winning story is published by Kadokawa Shoten and dramatized and broadcast nationally by TBS, and if a movie is made, the author is invited to help with production. (Mark Jewel, jlit.net)

*Yoshikawa Eiji Bungaku Shinjin Shō 吉川英治文学新人賞 (1980-present): Established in 1980 by the Yoshikawa Eiji Citizens' Cultural Promotion Association (Yoshikawa Eiji Kokumin Bunka Shinkō Kai) to recognize the most promising work of fiction by a new writer published during the preceding year. The winner receives a commemorative plaque and a cash award of 1 million yen. (Mark Jewel, jlit.net)

*Nihon SF Taishō 日本SF大賞 (1980-present): Established in 1980 and jointly sponsored by the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of Japan and the Tokuma Shoten publishing company. The award is presented annually to the best work of science fiction in any medium. The winner receives a trophy and a cash award of 1 million yen. (Mark Jewel, jlit.net)

*Oda Sakunosuke Shō 織田作之助賞 (1983-present): Established in 1983 under the sponsorship of the Osaka Association for the Promotion of Literature (Osaka Bungaku Shinkō-kai) to commemorate the 70th anniversary of Oda's birth, with the aim of carrying on the long tradition of Kamigata (Kansai) literature. Awarded annually to an outstanding work of fiction by a new author. The winner receives a certificate, a commemorative gift, and a cash award of 500,000 yen; in addition, the winning story is published in Bungakukai magazine. (Mark Jewel, jlit.net)

*Gendai Shijin Shō 現代詩人賞 (1984-present): Established in 1984 by the Association of Contemporary Japanese Poets (Nihon Gendaishijin Kai) to recognize an outstanding anthology of poetry published during the previous year by an established poet. The winner receives a cash award of 500,000 yen and a commemorative gift. (Mark Jewel, jlit.net)

*Shiika Bungakukan Shō 詩歌文学館賞 (1985-present): Established in 1985 in conjunction with the foundation of the Museum of Contemporary Japanese Poetry, Tanka and Haiku (in Iwate Prefecture) to honor the year's best anthologies of poetry (i.e. nontraditional forms), tanka, and haiku. Sponsored by the museum and the Hitotsubashi Sōgō Zaidan. Winners in each of the three categories receive a hand-carved mask and a cash award of 1 million yen. (Mark Jewel, jlit.net)

*Haidan Shō 俳壇賞 (1986-present): Established in 1986 by the haiku magazine Haidan (The Haiku Podium) and sponsored by the Hon'ami Shoten publishing company. An open competition in which candidates submit 30 previously unpublished haiku for consideration by a selection committee. The winner receives a certificate and a cash award of 100,000 yen. (Mark Jewel, jlit.net)

*Shinchō Gakugei Shō 新潮学芸賞 (1987-present): Established in 1987 on the twentieth anniversary of the founding of the Shinchō Society for the Promotion of Literary Arts (Shinchō Bungei Shinkō Kai). Along with the Yukio Mishima Prize, the Yamamoto Shūgorō Prize, and the (nonliterary) Grand Prize for Japanese Art, one of the so-called Four Shinchō Prizes (Shinchō Yonshō). This was the only one of the four prizes to have had what might be called a prior history (up to that time, a similar category had been included among the Grand Prize for Japanese Literature awards sponsored by the same publishing company). Awarded annually to a scholarly work of high merit in the fields of biography, essays, historical studies, or nonfiction. The winner receives a commemorative gift and a cash award of 1 million yen. (Mark Jewel, jlit.net)

*Mishima Yukio Shō 三島由紀夫賞 (1987-present): Established in 1987 on the 20th anniversary of the founding of the Shinchō Society for the Promotion of Literary Arts (Shinchō Bungei Shinkō Kai). Along with the Yamamoto Shūgorō Prize, the Shinchō Prize for Distinguished Scholarship, and the (nonliterary) Grand Prize for Japanese Art, one of the so-called Four Shinchō Prizes (Shinchō Yonshō). Awarded annually to an outstanding work of fiction, criticism, poetry, or drama that is considered to have "blazed a new trail" in the literary world. The winner receives a commemorative gift and a cash award of 1 million yen. (Mark Jewel, jlit.net)

*Yamamoto Shūgorō Shō 山本周五郎賞 (1987-present): Established in 1987 on the twentieth anniversary of the founding of the Shinchō Society for the Promotion of Literary Arts (Shinchō Bungei Shinkō Kai). Along with the Yukio Mishima Prize, the Shinchō Prize for Distinguished Scholarship, and the (nonliterary) Grand Prize for Japanese Art, one of the so-called Four Shinchō Prizes (Shinchō Yonshō). Awarded annually to a new work of fiction considered to exemplify the art of storytelling. The winner receives a commemorative gift and a cash award of 1 million yen. (Mark Jewel, jlit.net)

*Kōno Aiko Shō 河野愛子賞 (1990-present): Established in 1990 by the Mirai Tanka Kai (Association of Tanka of the Future) in recognition of the work of the tanka poet Kōno Aiko, who died in 1989. It is awarded annually to an outstanding tanka anthology or critical work on tanka by an established (chūken) contemporary female poet. The winner receives a certificate and a cash award of 300,000 yen. The 14th award in 2004 was the last given; its successoris the Kuzuhara Taeko Prize. (Mark Jewel, jlit.net)

*Kadan Shō 歌壇賞 (1990-present): Established in 1990 by the magazine Kadan (The Tanka Podium) to commemorate its second anniversary and sponsored by the Hon'ami Shoten publishing company. An open competition in which candidates submit 30 previously unpublished tanka for consideration by a selection committee. The winner receives a cash award of 100,000 yen. (Mark Jewel, jlit.net)

*Itō Sei Bungaku Shō 伊藤整文学賞 (1990- ): Established in 1990 on the twentieth anniversary of Itō's death by a group of residents in Otaru, Hokkaido, a city closely associated with the novelist and critic; jointly sponsored by the Itō Sei Prize for Literature Committee, the city of Otaru, and the Hokkaidō Shimbun. The prize has is awarded to outstanding works by established novelists and critics. The winner receives a bronze sculpture and a cash award of 1 million yen. (Mark Jewel, jlit.net)

*Kaikō Takeshi Nonfikushon Shō 開高健ノンフィクション賞 (1991-present): Established in 1991 as the Kaikō Takeshi Prize under the sponsorship of TBS Britannica, this underwent a "renewal" at the end of 2002, becoming the Kaikō Takeshi Prize for Nonfiction under the auspices of the Shūeisha publishing company. It is intended to promote work in nonfiction that can be taken to represent a 21st-century approach to nonfiction. Presented annually to a work in any category of nonfiction except translation. Works are solicited at large and reviewed by a selection committee. The winner receives a commemorative gift and a cash award of 3 million yen. (Mark Jewel, jlit.net)

*Murasaki Shikubu Shō 紫式部賞 (1991-present): Established in 1991 by the city of Uji in Kyoto Prefecture. Awarded annually to a literary work written in Japanese by a female author during the preceding calendar year. The winner receives a bronze statuette and a cash prize of 2 million yen. (Mark Jewel, jlit.net)

*Shōgakukan Nonfikushon Taishō 小学館ノンフィクション大賞 (1993-present): Established in 1993 under the name "International Twenty-first Century Grand Prize for Nonfiction" (Nijūisseiki Kokusai Nonfikushon Taishō) by the magazines Shūkan Post and Sapio on the occasion of the former's 25th anniversary, with the aim of encouraging up-and-coming writers of nonfiction to open new critical vistas in the upcoming century. First awarded in 1994, the prize was given its current name in 2000 (presumably because of the change in the millennium). No conditions regarding nationality, age, sex, or profession are imposed, although manuscripts submitted for consideration to the five-member selection committee must be previously unpublished, consist of about 300 pages (of 400 characters each), and deal with a timely topic in such areas as exploration, history, sports, science, or business. The winner receives a cash award of 10 million yen; honorable mentions receive 1 million yen (despite the "international" orientation, all winners through 2002 have been Japanese). (Mark Jewel, jlit.net)

*Hagiwara Sakutarō Shō 萩原朔太郎賞 (1993-present): Established in 1993 by the city of Maebashi, Gunma Prefecture, on the occasion of its 100th anniversary to honor the work of one of Japan's most famous modern poets, to encourage the spread of Japanese culture, and to facilitate the cultural development of the citizens of Maebashi. The prize is awarded annually to the outstanding collection of contemporary poetry published in the year ending in July or August. The winner receives a bronze statuette of Hagiwara, who was born in Maebashi, and a cash award of 1 million yen. (Mark Jewel, jlit.net)

*Tsubouchi Shōyō Taishō 坪内逍遥賞 (1994-present): Established in 1994 by the city of Minokamo in Gifu Prefecture on the 40th anniversary of its incorporation to honor the memory of native son Tsubouchi Shōyō. The award is presented annually in recognition of theatrical activities that contribute to a greater awareness of Shōyō's work. The winner receives a certificate, a plaque bearing a relief likeness of Shōyō, and a cash award of 2 million yen. (Mark Jewel, jlit.net)

*Rennyo Shō 蓮如賞 (1994-present): Established in 1994 to commemorate the 500th anniversary of the death of Rennyo (1415-99), a Jōdo Shinshū (New Pure Land) priest who revived the waning fortunes of the sect in the 15th century. Sponsored by the Honganji Preservation Foundation with the support of the Kawade Shobō Shinsha publishing company and awarded annually to an outstanding work of nonfiction (broadly interpreted to include criticism, biography, and other genres, and not restricted to religious topics). The winner receives a commemorative gift and a cash award of 2 million yen. (Mark Jewel, jlit.net)

*Matsumoto Seichō Shō 松本清張賞 (1994-present): Established in 1994 under the sponsorship of the Association for the Promotion of Japanese Literature (Nihon Bungaku Shinkō Kai). The prize underwent a major renewal in 2004 and is now awarded annually to a previously unpublished full-length "entertainment novel" in any genre. The winner receives a clock and a cash award of 5 million yen, and the winning novel is published by the Bungei Shunjū publishing company. (Mark Jewel, jlit.net)

*Nihon Hora- Shōsetsu Taishō 日本ホラー小説大賞 (1994-present): Established in 1994 by the Kadokawa publishing company and Fuji Television with the dual purpose of recognizing authors who have demonstrated exceptional talent in using horror as a means of elucidating the human condition and "of benefiting all living readers" (dōjidai o ikiru subete no dokusha no tame ni). Awarded annually to a previously unpublished novel in the genre of horror fiction as interpreted broadly. The winner of the Grand Prize receives a cash award of 5 million yen; separate prizes are also given for the categories of long fiction (3 million yen) and short fiction (2 million yen), with total prize money amounting to 10 million yen. Winning stories are published by Kadokawa Shoten and dramatized and broadcast by Fuji Television. (Mark Jewel, jlit.net)

*Terayama Shūji Tanka Shō 寺山修司短歌賞 (1996-present): Established in 1996 by the Sunagoya Shobō publishing company in recognition of the achievements of tanka poet Terayama Shūji (1935-83). It is awarded annually to an outstanding tanka anthology or critical work on tanka by an established (chūken) contemporary male poet. The winner receives a certificate and a cash award of 300,000 yen. (Mark Jewel, jlit.net)

*Nakahara Chūya Shō 中原中也賞 (1996-present): Established in 1996 by the city of Yamaguchi (with the support of publishers Seidosha and Kadokawa Shoten) in honor of native-son poet Nakahara Chūya (1907-37). The award is presented annually to an outstanding collection of contemporary poetry characterized by a "fresh sensibility" (shinsen na kankaku). The winner receives a cash award of 1 million yen, and the winning collection is published in English translation. (Mark Jewel, jlit.net)

*Kiyama Shōhei Bungaku Shō 木山捷平文学賞 (1997- ):

*Tezuka Osamu Shō 手塚治虫賞 (1997-present): Established in 1997 by the Asahi Shimbun in honor of Japanese cartoonist Tezuka Osamu. All single-volume manga published in the preceding calendar year are eligible for the prizes, which in 2003 were reorganized into four categories: the Grand Prize for Manga, the New Life Prize (for freshness of content and expression), the Short Comics Prize, and the Special Prize (for contributions to "manga culture"). After a preliminary round which includes participation by ordinary readers, members of the selection committee rank the finalists in descending order, with the top vote-getter receiving the Grand Prize for Manga and the second-place finisher receiving Honorable Mention. The Grand Prize for Manga brings the winner a bronze statuette (in the shape of Atom Boy) and a cash award of 2 million yen. Other winners receive a bronze statuette and 1 million yen in cash. (Mark Jewel, jlit.net)

*Osaragi Jirō Bundan Shō 大佛次郎文壇賞 (2001-present): Established in 2001 by Asahi Shimbun Company to recognize outstanding works of social commentary and analysis in such fields as political science, economics, sociology, and international affairs. The winner receives a plaque and a cash award of 2 million yen. (Mark Jewel, jlit.net)

*Asahi Butai Geijutsu Shō 朝日舞台芸術賞 (2001-present): Established in 2001 by the Asahi Shimbun Company with the purpose of recognizing outstanding achievement in the theater arts in Japan during the previous calendar year. The Grand Prix is awarded to the outstanding play of the year; the Theater Arts Prize is an award for artistic merit in several categories presented to individuals or organizations; the Terayama Shūji Prize is meant to recognize artistic innovation by individuals or organizations who have demonstrated artistic innovation; the Akimoto Matsuyo Prize is given to theatrical works, individuals, or organizations that have succeeded in combining popular entertainment with artistic merit; and Special Achievement Awards (tokubetsu shō) are presented to individuals or organizations. Winners receive a medallion and a cash award of 2 million yen (for the Grand Prix) or 1 million yen (for the other prizes). (Mark Jewel, jlit.net)

*Kobayashi Hideo Shō 小林秀雄賞 (2002-present): Established in 2002 by the Shinchō Bungei Shinkō Kai (Shinchō Society for the Promotion of the Literary Arts). Awarded annually to a work of nonfiction published in Japanese between July 1 and the following June 30 that offers a fresh image of the world based on the demonstration of a free spirit and supple intellect. The winner receives a commemorative gift and a cash award of 1 million yen. (Mark Jewel, jlit.net)

*Nekusuto Shō ネクスト賞 (2001-present): Established in 2001 by the Kadokawa Publishing Company as a revolutionary way of discovering talented new writers. Submissions are open to all "new" writers and may be made at any time; aside from the qualification that it is an award for fiction, no genre restrictions are imposed. In addition, all applicants are promised a written review of their submission within three months of submission. Winners, announced around the end of the year, receive no remuneration other than the 8 percent in royalties (slightly less than the standard 10 percent) they stand to earn from having their winning entries published. The first three awards were made at the end of 2002. (Mark Jewel, jlit.net)

*Kuzuhara Taeko Shō 葛原妙子 (2005-present): Established in 2005 by the Teragoya Shobō publishing company as the successor to the Kōno Aiko Prize (first awarded in 1990) in recognition of the work of the tanka poet Kuzuhara Taeko (1907-1985). The prize is awarded annually to an outstanding collection of tanka by an established female poet. The winner receives a certificate and a cash award of 300,000 yen. (Mark Jewel, jlit.net)

VI. Literary Groups and Terms

*Waseda 早稲田: one of six Meiji literary groups (according to Tayama Katai)

*Kyōyōshugi: "human cultivation," from the German bildung; Taishō-era movement promoting character building and self-cultivation

*Bunmei kaika

*Fukkō Shintō 復興神道: Restoration Shinto. A school of thought represented by Kada no Azumamaro (1669-1736), Kamo no Mabuchi (1697-1769), Motoori Norinaga (1730-1801), and Hirata Atsutane (1776-1843). While other Shintō schools also sought to rediscover ancient, natural Shintō, Fukkō Shintōists often relied on Buddhist or Confucian methodology or ways of thought, and therefore produced Buddhistic or Confucianistic theories about Shintō. Fukko Shintô scholars began with a painstaking study of ancient philology in their attempt to elucidate the mentality of the ancient Japanese and thus to discover the essence of Shinto. (Kokugakuin Glossary of Shinto Names and Terms)

*Taikyō senpu 大教宣布 (1870-1884): Great Promulgation Campaign. Failed campaign by Shinto leaders to create a state religion. Narrowly understood, the 1870 Imperial decree released by the Office of Propaganda to the people announcing the Kannagara no daidô (the Great Way of the Kami). More widely understood, the movement directed by the Kyôdôshoku (Agency for Spiritual Guidance) in which doctrines such as "keishin, aikoku" (Reverence for Kami and Patriotism) were expounded to the people. It was a national indoctrination movement for the purpose of strengthening the imperial system and opposing Christianity, but it weakened in the face of Buddhist opposition and arguments for the separation of religion and government. The movement disappeared after the Agency was dissolved in 1884. (Kokugakuin Glossary of Shinto Names and Terms)

*Kyōiku chokugo 教育勅語 (1890): Imperial Rescript on Education.

*Sanjō kyōsoku 三条教則 (): Three Great Teachings.

*Kyōbushō 教部省 (1873- ): Ministry of religion. Established in 1873 to replace the Jingikan (Department of Divinities), which from 1869 to 1871 had been pursuing the indoctrination of the people under the principle of unity of religion and rule (saisei itchi). The Jingikan was reformed in 1871 into a new Jingishô (Ministry of Divinities), which in turn underwent revision two years later into the Ministry of Religion. The Ministry oversaw religious affairs and policies, and sought to advance the Taikyô sempu (Proclamation of the Great Doctrine) through a system for indoctrination mobilizing both Shintoists and Buddhists. The Ministry was dissolved in 1877 in response to arguments for the separation of religious and governmental affairs, and its administrative functions were assumed by the Bureau of Shrines and Temples in the newly created Home Ministry. (Kokugakuin Glossary of Shinto Names and Terms)

*Taishō Kyōyōshugi ():

*Inaka shinshi: men from the provinces who gradually displaced the elite samurai as the new bourgeois class

*Maria Rusugō jiken マリア・ルス号事件 "Maria Luz Incident" (1872): A diplomatic incident between the early Meiji government of the Empire of Japan and the Republic of Peru over a merchant ship with Chinese indentured laborers in Yokohama in 1872. It was an early test of the independence of the Japanese judiciary system and a challenge to the extraterritoriality provisions of the unequal treaties then in force between Japan and the western powers. (Answers.com)

*Norumanton gō jiken "Normanton Incident" (1886): Incident in which 23 Japanese passengers drowned after the British cargo ship Normanton sank off the Kii Peninsula.

*Shichi hakase jiken (1905):

*Hibiya yakiuchi jiken (1905): Riots that took place when an enormous crowd gathered at Hibiya Park to protest the Portsmouth Treaty that ended the Russo-Japanese War.

*Akahata jiken "Red Flag Incident" (1908):

*Taigyaku jiken "High Treason Incident" (1910): Relates to a plot in 1910 to assassinate the Japanese Emperor by Japanese socialists-anarchists. Twenty-four of the twenty-six defendants were sentenced to death on January 18 1911. Of these, half had their sentence commuted to life imprisonment on the following day. Of the remaining twelve, eleven were executed on January 24, 1911. These included Kotoku Shusui, the first Japanese anarchist, and Oishi Seinosuke, a doctor. The last of the condemned defendants, the only woman, Kanno Suga, was executed the next day. While many of the defendants were probably aware to some degree of the plot, they did not intend to personally participate and were completely surprised by the process which led to the verdicts. The High Treason Incident is also indirectly related to The Red Flag Incident, which occurred in 1908. During the High Treason investigation, anarchists already incarcerated were questioned about possible involvement, including Osugi Sakae, Sakai Toshihiko, and Yamakawa Hitoshi. Kanno Suga, who was found not guilty during the Red Flag trials, was arrested, tried, and sentenced to death in the High Treason trials. Osugi later wrote that he'd encountered the defendants in prison, but was too afraid to speak to them too loudly. Kotoku was unable to hear him, as he had poor hearing. Osugi also encountered their executioner, who later retired after their execution. The Incident ushered in a period of heightened repression and steady decline for socialism in general, and anarchism in particular, throughout the Taisho period. (AllExperts.com)

*Amakasu jiken (1923): The Amakasu Incident occurred on September 16, 1923, in the chaos immediately following the Great Kantō earthquake. Fearing that anarchists would take advantage of the disaster to overthrow the government, a squad of military police led by Lieutenant Amakasu Masahiko arrested Osugi Sakae, Ito Noe and her six year old nephew. They were later beaten to death and their bodies thrown into a well. The killing of such high profile anarchists, along with a young child, became known as the Amakasu Incident, and sparked surprise and anger throughout Japan. (Allexperts.com)

*Gakuren jiken (1925):

*Sangatsu jiken 三月事件 (1931): aborted military coup.

*Jūgatsu jiken (1931): Failed military coup.

*Manshū jihen (1931): ". . . the single act that enabled Japanese troops to occupy all of Manchuria" (Huffman, Modern Japan)

*Go ichi go jiken (1932):

*Ketsumeidan jiken (1932):

*Shanhai jihen (1932):

*Shimpeitai jiken (1933): A failed coup intended to install a military government.

*Takigawa jiken (1933): The forced removal of Professor Takigawa and other foreign policy dissidents from the law faculty at Kyoto University.

*Niniroku jiken "February 26 Incident" (1936): A major coup attempt against the Japanese government by the Imperial Way Faction. Groups of assassins killed or attempted to kill the upper leadership of the government and seize control of key buildings. Fourteen hundred junior military officers took up arms in Tokyo, occupying the Diet, army ministry, and police headquarters. Three cabinet members were killed, including finance minister Takahashi Korekiyo. A band of officers stormed the Kantei (the prime minister's residence) and attempted to kill Prime Minister Okada Keisuke, Admiral Suzuki Kantaro, and Prince Saionji Kimmochi. Most of the city ended up effectively under rebel control. The rebels were fighting in the name of the Emperor against what they saw as a self-serving, overly political government that needed to pay more attention to the troubled domestic economy. Hirohito responded by ordering the army and navy to suppress the revolt. Elements of the armed services interested in the conquest of Asia saw this as an opportunity to use the rebel's actions as an excuse for the military to seize greater power over the government. On the 29th, both services reported that they had captured all the rebels, and either executed them or demanded that they commit ritual suicide. Martial law was imposed until July, and Okada was forced to resign in March, making way for a new premier, Hirota Koki (who ended up signing Japan's alliance with Germany). After some initial success, the coup started to unravel as the Emperor, General Hideki Tojo and surprisingly Shigeru Honjo (once a known supporter of Sadao Araki) acted against the rebels. The Emperor showed unexpected firmness. After a brief political crisis and stalling from the military, the rebels were forced to surrender. In the aftermath, many radical officers were retired and the coup leaders were tried and executed. Whatever the motive, February 26 wiped out the pro-peace factions in Japan and placed the entire country on a solid militarist footing. It was an important step in the escalation in 1937 of the Second Sino-Japanese War, towards Shanghai and the Nanjing massacre. The story behind the February 26 Incident is controversial in Japan, and has been the subject of many movies and fictional stories. Although there is no conclusive evidence to support their position, many believe that Hirohito's younger brother, Prince Chichibu Yasuhito, was behind the revolt. Some conspiracy theorists have gone as far as to say that Hirohito and his cohorts staged the rebellion to create the perception of a need for stronger internal security measures. (AllExperts.com)

*Rokōkyō jiken "Marco Polo Bridge Incident" (1937): Conflict between Chinese and Japanese troops near the Marco Polo Bridge outside Beijing, which developed into the warfare between the two countries that was the prelude to the Pacific side of World War II. In 1931 Japan occupied Manchuria (now Northeast China) and established the puppet state of Manchukuo, spending large sums to develop the region’s industry and continuing to expand their occupation into northern China around Beiping and Tianjin. This violation of China’s territorial integrity produced a growing anti-Japanese movement in China. By 1937 this movement had grown so strong that the Chinese communists and Nationalists agreed to end their civil war and form a United Front against further Japanese aggression. Before the incident occurred, the Japanese army had occupied Fengtai, the railway junction close to the Marco Polo Bridge, southwest of Beiping. On the night of July 7, 1937, a small Japanese force on maneuvers near the Marco Polo Bridge demanded entry to the tiny walled town of Wanping in order to search for one of their soldiers. The Chinese garrison in the town refused the Japanese entry; a shot was heard, and the two sides began firing. The Chinese government, under strong anti-Japanese pressure, refused to make any concessions in the negotiation of the dispute. The Japanese also maintained their position. As a result, the conflict continued to grow. As the fighting spread to central China, the Japanese scored successive victories. The Japanese government, under mounting public pressure not to retreat, decided to seek a quick victory in China. However, this eluded them, and the two sides plunged into what was to become the Sino-Japanese War (1937–45) and, in 1941, the Pacific theatre of World War II. (Britannica Encyclopedia)

*Shina jihen "China Incident" (1937): Incident that led to large-scale hostilities between Japan and China.

*Pane Gō jiken "Panay Incident" (1937): An important, if short‐lived, crisis in U.S.‐Japanese relations occurred in the 1930s as Japan launched the Second Sino‐Japanese War in July 1937. The Japanese had quickly conquered Beijing, Shanghai, and Nanjing, and blockaded the coastline. On 12 December 1937, Japanese warplanes sank the U.S. Navy's gunboat Panay on the Yangtze River, killing three Americans and wounding nearly thirty. In the daylight attack, many of the escaping survivors were repeatedly machine‐gunned. Three Standard Oil tankers being convoyed by the Panay were also sunk. President Roosevelt's advisers believed Japanese officers in China had authorized the attack on the clearly marked ships, and the president and his cabinet considered an embargo and possible naval action. However, while condemning the attack, congressional and press opinion concluded that no vital American interests were involved. When the foreign ministry in Tokyo soon offered a formal apology and agreed to U.S. demands for an indemnity of $2 million, the crisis subsided, but it increased anti‐Japanese sentiment in the United States and helped persuade the president to take a firmer stand toward Japan, including in 1938 imposing a “moral embargo” on the sale of aircraft to the Japanese military and increasing the U.S. Navy. (U.S. Military History Companion)

*Jinmin sensen jiken "Popular Front Incident" (1937-1938): Crackdown on leftists in which over four hundred were arrested.

*Kyōju gurupu jiken (1938): Arrest of professors suspected of being affiliated with the leftist group Popular Front (jinmin sensen).

*Me-de- Jiken "May Day Incident" (1952): Series of protests in front of the Imperial Palace resulting in violent clashes between 1,000 police and 6,000 demonstrators demanding an end to the U.S. occupation. Two protestors were killed and over one thousand were injured.

*Sōmagahara jiken (1957): Case involving the murder of a Gunma woman by a U.S. serviceman.

*Nagasaki kokki jiken 長崎国旗事件 "Nagasaki Flag Incident" (1958): Diplomatic dispute over which flag should serve as the legitimate national flag of China.

*Shimanaka jiken "Shimanaka Incident" (1960): The attempted murder of Chūō Kōronsha president Shimanaka Hōji by a right-winged radical angered at the publication of Fukazawa Shichirō's famed story about regicide.

*Rokkiido jiken (1976): Lockheed Corporation corruption scandal

*Toshiba jiken (1987):

*

IX. Organizations and Institutions

*International Research Center for Japanese Studies (Nichibunken) 国際日本文化研究センター (1982- ): Located in Kyoto. Philosopher Umehara Takashi served as first Director-General. Political motivations behind the establishment of the center were criticized by Ueno Chizuko and others. Also criticized for association with nationalism and essentialism. The center publishes two periodicals: the biannual Japanese journal Nihon kenkyū and the annual English journal Nichibunken Japan Review.

*Japan Foundation 国際交流基金 (1972- ): Established by the Diet in order to promote Japanese culture abroad. The foundation has branches in 19 countries.

*Japan Society for the Promotion of Science (JSPS) 日本学術振興会 (1932- ):

*National Diet Library 国立国会図書館 (1948): The library has two main facilities, one in Tokyo (Nagatacho) and the other in Kyoto (opened in 2002). Its origins can be traced to the Imperial Library, established in 1872. The library has its own online public access catalog (NDL-OPAC).

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is a collaborative web journal founded and edited by Beholdmyswarthyface and Sally Suzuki. It focuses primarily—but not solely—on modern Japanese culture, history, and literature. Of miscegenated and common birth, Beholdmyswarthyface grew up in Phoenix, AZ. He holds a Ph.D. from University of Tokyo, and currently teaches literature as tenured lecturer at Nagoya University of Foreign Studies 名古屋外国語大学.